MOG preps a mobile app for SXSW showdown with Spotify
Be prepared for a music startup showdown in Austin. MOG, a Berkeley-based music streaming startup, will debut its mobile app a day before its European rival Spotify takes the stage at the SXSW festival two weeks from now.
Context & Ripple Effects
Spotify enters this year's SXSW holding a strong hand: it shipped its long-hyped [[a:none|iPhone application]] back in September 2009 — though first impressions were mixed, with reviewers doubting its quality after preview videos — and closed funding in August 2009 at a confirmed €170 million valuation. Some observers already see the service as a threat to Apple's iTunes, though that remains unconfirmed speculation rather than settled fact.
MOG, the Berkeley-based streaming startup, is choosing to fight on Spotify's home-turf moment: it will debut its own mobile app in Austin a day before Spotify takes the SXSW stage, converting the festival into a head-to-head comparison between the two services.
First-order effects
- SXSW attendees get both streaming apps on their phones within days of each other, making Austin the first venue where users can judge MOG and Spotify side by side on mobile.
- MOG buys itself a news cycle ahead of Spotify's stage appearance, forcing Spotify to share attention it had expected to command alone.
Second-order effects
- Apple faces two well-funded streaming rivals courting iPhone users at once — pressure that matters more if the rumored iTunes-threat thesis holds, giving labels additional negotiating leverage over download pricing.
- Other streaming startups must decide whether to match MOG's mobile-first launch cadence or cede the festival-driven press window entirely.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, music consumption keeps shifting from owned downloads to on-demand access on phones, with the winners determined less by catalog than by mobile experience and launch momentum.
- SXSW consolidates its role as the staging ground where consumer-internet startups manufacture rivalry narratives to win early adopters and press.
The trend: Music streaming is going mobile-first in 2010, and festivals like SXSW have become the launch battlegrounds where subscription upstarts position themselves against incumbents like iTunes.