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MOG (online music)

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MOG
MOG
Platform(s)Web; iPhone/iPod Touch, Android, Roku, Boxee Box
Pricing model30-day subscription
AvailabilityUnited States, Australia
Websitemog.com

MOG was a paid subscription online music service and blog network, where subscribers could listen to and read about music. Subscribers could play tracks available in its catalog on a variety of digital devices, including computers, handheld devices, Sonos systems and television. MOG also allowed users to access aggregated editorial content from music blogs,[1] user posts, and in-house editors.

MOG was founded by David Hyman, formerly CEO of Gracenote, SVP of Marketing at MTV Interactive, and Director of Ad Sales for Addicted to Noise.[2] It was privately held and headquartered in Berkeley, CA. The company raised capital from a variety of sources, including Balderton Capital, Menlo Ventures, Simon Equity, Universal Music Group, and Sony Music.[3] Music producer Rick Rubin was a member of MOG's board of directors.[4]

After purchasing MOG in 2012, Beats Electronics in January 2014 announced that the MOG service would shut down in the United States on 15 April 2014. This date was first indefinitely postponed,[5] but then it was shut down on 31 May 2014.[6] Its successor system, Beats Music, launched in the United States on 21 January 2014[7] and then was in turn acquired by Apple Inc. in May 2014.

History

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Founded in June 2005,[3] MOG began as a music-themed social network and blog network. Users could create profiles with information about their music tastes, and the MOG-O-MATIC client application assisted in the process by scanning users' music libraries and populating their profiles with information about their music collection and listening activities.[8] MOG also recommended users with similar music tastes. Users could compose blog posts, read posts composed by other users, and listen to 30-second samples of songs.[9]

In late 2007, MOG partnered with Rhapsody to allow Rhapsody subscribers to access all of Rhapsody's content through MOG.[10]

In August 2008, MOG launched the MOG Music Network, a music ad network that aggregated posts from affiliate blogs and those created by MOG's in-house music editors.[11]

In December 2009, MOG launched a subscription music service, which allowed subscribers to stream any song in MOG's catalog to their computer through a web browser. In July 2010, MOG released mobile applications for iPhone, iPod Touch, and phones using the Android operating system, allowing subscribers to also access MOG's catalog from these devices.[citation needed]

In September 2010, MOG announced the release of a Roku channel, which enables subscribers to access the service from their television.[12]

In June 2011, "Weird Al" Yankovic pre-released his album Alpocalypse on the MOG website.

In March 2012, reports surfaced that Beats Electronics—an audio equipment company then majority-owned by mobile phone maker HTC, was planning to acquire MOG.[13]

In April 2012, MOG announced a partnership with Telstra to bring MOG to Australia, the first region outside of the US to have access.[14] Telstra and MOG launched under the BigPond Music branding on 21 June 2012.[15] This partnership also allows Telstra customers to stream without the content counting towards their data quota.

In July 2012, it was officially confirmed that Beats would acquire MOG's music streaming service for $14 million[16] The acquisition did not include MOG's advertising network, the MOG Music Network,[17] which was sold in a separate deal on 24 August 2012 to the radio broadcasting and media company Townsquare Media.[18]

In January 2014, it was announced that MOG would be discontinued on 15 April 2014 in favor of Beats Music, and that existing subscribers would receive refunds. The shutdown was delayed to 31 May 2014. Former MOG subscribers were offered a free, 60-day trial of Beats Music.[19]

In Australia, MOG was offered through Telstra's BigPond Music (BPM) service.[20] Telstra officially announced the closure of MOG on 31 July, and the service ceased to operate on 11:59PM 31 August.[21]

Features

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MOG's Web Player

MOG was a subscription service that allows users to play tracks from its catalog on a variety of digital devices, including computers, handheld devices, Sonos system and television (through MOG's Roku channel). The company claimed that its catalog was 16 million tracks,[22] although it is not clear how the count was produced or audited. Songs could be streamed via the internet or stored on their devices so that they could be played without internet connection. Web streams were 320 kbit/s MP3 files[23] and mobile streams were 48 kbit/s AAC+ files. Users could choose whether mobile downloads were 'high-quality' 320 kbit/s MP3 files or 48 kbit/s AAC+ files.[24]

MOG Radio, accessible through any of the platforms mentioned above, generated a continuous play queue based on the artist chosen by the user. By adjusting a slider within the MOG player (pictured at right) between Artist Only and Similar Artists, the user determined whether the radio plays only songs by the selected artist, or whether and how often songs by what the application determined to be "similar artists" were added to the queue. When a user's song selection ends, MOG Radio begins to play and continued until the user makes another selection.[25]

The MOG Music Network was a music blog network that aggregated original content by in-house editors and syndicated content from more than 1,300 affiliate blogs.[26] Affiliates signed up to reach MOG's 38 million monthly unique visitors in the US (as of April 2011)[1] who clicked through from blog post excerpts on MOG to read the full post on the affiliate site.[26]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Jason Kincaid 21 May 2010 (21 May 2010). "MOG's Music Network Gaining Fast on Competitors, Still Has A Ways To Go". Techcrunch.com. Retrieved 7 June 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ "MOG Executive Team & Board". Mog.com. Archived from the original on 21 June 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  3. ^ a b "About MOG". Mog.com. Archived from the original on 9 June 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  4. ^ "Rick Rubin goes digital, joins MOG board | Technology | Los Angeles Times". Latimesblogs.latimes.com. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  5. ^ "What happens to the MOG service and subscribers? – Beats Music Support". Archived from the original on 3 April 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  6. ^ "MOG streaming music service shut down". June 2014.
  7. ^ Mike Snider (21 January 2014). "Beats Music sets shutdown date for MOG music service". USA TODAY. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  8. ^ "New Website Mixes Networking, Musical Taste". Spin. 21 June 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  9. ^ "Attention Music Freaks: MOG Launches Groundbreaking Music Website. – Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com. 20 June 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  10. ^ Mark Hendrickson (11 December 2007). "MOG Integrates Rhapsody's Streaming Music Collection, Launches Redesign". Techcrunch.com. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  11. ^ Jason Kincaid (11 August 2008). "MOG Launches Ad Network, Rick Rubin Joins Board". Techcrunch.com. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  12. ^ "MOG's Digital Music Service Now Available to Roku Customers – BERKELEY, Calif., Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/" (Press release). California: Prnewswire.com. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  13. ^ "HTC unit Beats close to buying music service MOG". Reuters. Retrieved 20 March 2012.[permanent dead link‍]
  14. ^ Glenn Hamilton (17 April 2012). "MOG powered by Telstra – A massive deal for music lovers". Telstra Exchange. Telstra. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  15. ^ "The MOG Blog". Archived from the original on 29 June 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  16. ^ "Beats Electronics acquires MOG music service". TechnologyLive. USA Today. 2 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  17. ^ "Beats Electronics Acquires Mog Rapper Dr. Dre's headphone makers scoop up digital streaming service". Adweek. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  18. ^ "Remaining half of Mog Music Network sells to Townsquare Media Group". MusicWeek. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  19. ^ "MOG streaming music service shut down". The Verge. June 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  20. ^ "MOG - Telstra Music Subscription Subscription Service - BPM - BigPond Music MP3 Downloads". BPM. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  21. ^ "Telstra announces closure of music-streaming service MOG". ZDNet.
  22. ^ "How MOG Works". MOG. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  23. ^ "What audio quality (Bitrate) does MOG support? / General Information / FAQs - MOG Support". support.mog.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  24. ^ "Quality formats: 64-Kbps AAC and 320-Kbps MP3 / Questions / Discussion Area – MOG Support". Support.mog.com. 29 August 2010. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  25. ^ "The MOG Music Service Tour". Mog.com. Archived from the original on 13 October 2010. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  26. ^ a b "Music Blog Ad Network – MOG Music Network FAQ". Mog.com. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
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