PlayStation Music with Spotify launching this spring in 41 markets

Following up on their announcement to rebrand all of their entertainment services under the PlayStation Network banner, Sony has revealed a bit about the future of the new PlayStation Music service.

Sony Online Entertainment’s Music Unlimited will be shutting down globally on March 29th and will be replaced by PlayStation Music — with Spotify announced as the service’s exclusive partner. We love Spotify (as do quite a few other music fans around the globe we’re guessing) so the new partnership sounds pretty great to us.

PlayStation Music will feature full Spotify integration, and will be available first on the PS4 and PS3 and Xperia devices. According to the PS Blog comments, both the free (ad-supported) and paid premium (ad-free, higher quality) Spotify accounts will work, and Sony will allow users to link to their PSN accounts and PS Wallet.  PS Music/Spotify, just as Music Unlimited di, can be streamed as custom background music while playing games on the PS4.  Needless to say, the feature should certainly make a few gamers pretty happy.

Check out the announcement with all the details below, or sign up here for more information on when the service will launch this spring.  Head on over to the PS Blog for additional details as well.

Sony Network Entertainment International LLC (SNEI) and Spotify today announced a global strategic partnership to deliver a best-in-class digital music experience to PlayStation Network and its 64 million active users¹. Through this partnership, SNEI will launch a new music destination in Spring 2015 called PlayStation Music, with Spotify as the exclusive partner. Spotify on PlayStation Music will roll out in 41 markets, initially for PlayStation consoles and Xperia smartphones and tablets.

“Music is a core component of the entertainment offering that consumers expect from Sony, and our goal with PlayStation Music is to provide the most compelling music experiences to the millions of PlayStation Network users around the world,” said Andrew House, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and Group Executive in charge of the Network Entertainment Business. “This partnership represents the best in music and the best in gaming coming together, which will benefit the vibrant and passionate communities of both Spotify and PlayStation Network. We’re thrilled to make Spotify the foundation of our strategy with PlayStation Music.”

PlayStation Network and Spotify’s award-winning digital music service will be deeply integrated, offering unique and exclusive benefits to users. PlayStation Network users can link their accounts with Spotify, making it easy to subscribe to Spotify’s Premium service through the PlayStation Network wallet.

“We are incredibly honored to partner with Sony and PlayStation to give gamers around the world an amazing experience wherever they listen to music,” said Daniel Ek, CEO and Founder, Spotify. “As a gamer and PlayStation 4 user myself, I’m super excited to be able to soundtrack my FIFA 15 Arsenal matches later this spring.”

Spotify on PlayStation Music will offer more than 30 million songs and 1.5 billion playlists on PlayStation 4 (PS4) and PlayStation 3 (PS3) systems, as well as Xperia smartphones and tablets. Users will be able to create a music collection and listen to playlists (including existing playlists from current Spotify users as well as Spotify curated playlists) and enjoy the service on all of Spotify’s supported devices.  Additionally, PS4 owners will be able to use Spotify while playing games, enabling them to soundtrack their gaming sessions with their favorite songs playing in the background.

SNEI’s current Music Unlimited service will close in all 19 countries on March 29, 2015. Nearly all of these countries will be among the 41 markets² where PlayStation Music featuring Spotify will be available at launch³. From February 28, 2015, Music Unlimited users with active subscriptions will receive up to 30 days of free access to Music Unlimited through March 29, 2015, and will be offered an introductory Spotify Premium trial.

For more details on the partnership, Spotify and PSN users can sign up for updates here: http://www.spotify.com/playstation.

¹ Number of active users includes Sony Entertainment Network accounts.