Vivendi is et to launch the music video service WatchMusic in France during the first half of 2017, according to managing director Karim Ayari.
The music service is primarily aiming at mobile usage and Vivendi will launch the service in France with a number of mobile operators. Italy will follow next, after which WatchMusic will roll out in other European countries.
The service will be subscription based, giving consumers unlimited access for a fixed fee, probably below the monthly subscription price of Deezer and Spotify, which means less than EUR10.
Vivendi is currently testing WatchMusic in Brasil in cooperation with Telefonica, where it retails for just EUR4 monthly.
WatchMusic will feature artists from Universal Music Group, which is also owned by Vivendi, but talks are under way woth Sony and Warner.
Apart from the video service, WatchMusic will also offer audio streams, to directly compete with Deezer and Spotify. But Ayari expects there will be an interest in the video service as well, pointing at the success of music videos on Youtube and Dailymotion (also owned by Vivendi).
