You, unless you are one of our fine readers from around the world, have probably not dealt with Deezer. Spotify is the reigning music streaming service in the United States, but Deezer—one of the planet's biggest competitors to the aforementioned streamer—aims to enter the American market in January 2014.
Why haven't you heard of the company until now? That's all part of Deezer's business plan. Spotify has long focused on the American and other major markets. Deezer on the other hand has spread itself far and wide to fill markets that its competitor hasn't touched yet, allowing it to have traction in more than 180 countries (181 come January).
Deezer currently lists itself as having 5 million subscribers (compared to 7 million for Spotify), although many of those are subscribers are the result of mobile packages. However, Deezer is well funded, thanks to the support of Len Blavatnik, a billionaire businessman who also owns the Warner Music Group. So it won't have an issue cracking into the American market.
In fact, mobile companies may be the driving force behind Deezer's entry to our shores. Names like Verizon Wireless have been suggested as partnering with the company to offer the service on its phones. Another option is Microsoft, who's struggled to succeed in the digital music front. The company could look to partner with Deezer and package the service with its computers.
Spotify's main competitor in the streaming department could come from within the U.S. however. YouTube Music will provide an obstacle, and will the burgeoning iTunes Radio service has also attracted more users since its introduction earlier this year.
