Samsung strikes deal with Spotify, intensifies battle with Apple

A new deal announced overnight in New York sees Spotify become the global music service provider for Samsung’s smart devices and its speakers, TVs and phones.

News of the partnership, which is a coup for the Swedish streaming service’s global profile and possibly expand its subscriber base, saw Spotify’s shares jump 5.1%.

Samsung Smart TV users will soon be able to play Spotify through the SmartThings app, which will switch devices seamlessly.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek explained, “It’s a new level of integration that will allow Spotify to be easily accessible and discoverable on Samsung devices.

“As you move from room to room, your devices will be aware of your location and prompt you to effortlessly transition your listening between them.”

He added, “We know that listeners stream different kinds of music at different times, in different places, and most importantly, on different devices.

“We think music should be easy to access on all of your devices—and we want it to be seamless to switch from one device to another.”

Unveiled at the New York Unpacked event at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, was Samsung’s entry into the smart speaker market with the new Galaxy Home.

Samsung executives confirmed Australia will get the Galaxy Home, but a definite release date and price is to be confirmed.

The unusually shaped device looks like a large wine glass-top and three legs.

The speaker will be powered by Bixby, Samsung’s smart assistant, and set to go head-to-head with Apple’s Siri, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

The device comes with six speakers, a subwoofer, eight mics to sense when someone is talking, and the Sound Steer to direct the music towards the listener in the room.

Explains Ek: “Spotify is excited to be even more deeply integrated with Bixby, Samsung’s premier voice solution, and serve as the only music service to be fully integrated with Samsung Music.

“When a user asks Bixby for music, Bixby will look to Spotify—even if that user has never used Spotify before—allowing listeners to receive recommendations from Spotify, discover new playlists, and create new musical experiences.”

Giving Samsung’s millions of customers quicker access to Spotify’s 35 million songs and Discovery and Personalization features “will also help artists reach new fans,” added Ek.

“Our goal has always been to make music accessible to everyone by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by it.”

Samsung closed its Milk streaming service in 2016.