International News

(Telecompaper) A new streaming music service targeting consumers who have yet to listen to digital music online has launched in 16 countries. Rara.com is operated by Omnifone and offers over 10 million tracks ad-free for an initial 99 cents/pence per month for the first three months. After that it will cost USD/GBP/EUR 4.99 per month or 9.99 when adding access from a mobile device. An Android app is already available and it will launch soon on iOS. Rara has launched already in the US, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland and will be available later this week in Canada, Mexico and five additional markets. The company has licensing agreements with the four major labels - Universal, Sony, EMI and Warner - including new releases and older tracks. Users can select individual tracks, create playlists and also choose from a range of 'radio' stations based on different interests, while also sharing their favourites over social networks. The new service claims a simple user interface accessible on any web browser. It was developed following ICM Research commissioned by Rara that shows 60 percent of consumers have never experienced any form of digital music. The company said it aims to more than double its footprint by the end of 2012.