Bad news today for any BBM Music subscribers out there, as it looks like BlackBerry is about to pull the (headphone) plug from its music sharing service. In an email sent out to subscribers and posted in the CrackBerry forums, BlackBerry has revealed that it will be discontinuing BBM Music as of June 2, with songs and playlists expected to start becoming unplayable in May as BBM users begin to ditch the service. The final month that paying BBM subscribers will be billed for is April. Once the service goes dark, BlackBerry says that users should delete the app from their device by going into Options > Device > Application Management, selecting BBM Music and then hitting Menu > Delete.
Even though it's shuttering its BBM Music service, BlackBerry isn't leaving its music-loving customers totally out in the cold. The company is giving BBM Music users a 30-day free trial for the music streaming service Rdio, which is currently home to over 18 million tracks.
Launched in late 2011, BBM Music allowed users to stream and save up to 50 songs from BlackBerry's music catalog for $4.99 per month. That may not sound like much, and it really isn't, but BBM Music subscribers could gain access to more songs by making friends on BBM that were also signed up for the service, which would then grant each user access to that friend's 50 songs. The service did offer a slightly cheaper alternative to the likes of Rdio and Spotify, which charge $10 per month for mobile streaming, but those services also give a user unlimited streaming for that price. It's never good to see services get the axe, but BBM Music just couldn't get the traction with consumers that BlackBerry had been hoping for. At least BBM Music users will have free access to Rdio for 30 days to keep their tunes going.