Gamers will be able to access 30 million songs

Jan 28, 2015 22:31 GMT  ·  By

The team in charge of the PlayStation brand announces that it is getting ready to launch an entirely new Music service for the devices that it manufactures via a new partnership with Spotify, which is designed to give users access to a wider array of songs from their favorite artists to listen whenever they want to.

The official PS Blog announcement states, "We know how important music is to our community of gamers, and this partnership combines the best in music with the best in gaming. PlayStation Network users will enjoy the convenience of linking your accounts to Spotify, making it easy to sign-up with your existing ID and subscribe to Spotify’s Premium service."

On the PlayStation 4, gamers will be able to stream music while they are engaged with their favorite titles, which means that they can choose their own soundtrack from among the 30 million songs and 1.5 billion custom playlists that have been created on the service so far.

Initially, the Spotify-powered Music service will be offered on the PS4, the PlayStation 3, and Xperia smartphones and tablets.

It's unclear when it will be offered on the PlayStation Vita.

Sony is also explaining that its older Music Unlimited service will close down in all its 19 core markets on March 29.

The full list of markets on which PlayStation Music will be offered at launch includes: Andorra, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, UK and USA.

The PlayStation 4 is an entertainment hub

Since the Xbox One and the PS4 were first announced, both Microsoft and Sony talked a lot about their efforts to make them more than gaming consoles.

The entertainment angle allows the two companies to attract more users and to make more money by partnering with big companies.

The apps need to be solid and deliver extra features, and Sony says that more details about the way Spotify will work on the PlayStation 4 and the PS3 will be offered in the coming weeks.

It's unclear whether there are any plans to introduce applications for other music streaming services in order to create an even more competitive environment.