Deezer’s name may not be very well-known in the U.S. right now, but that is going to change soon.
Cricket Wireless today announced that it’s struck a deal with to sell its Muve Music brand to Deezer and then bring Deezer’s streaming music service to Cricket subscribers. By January 31, Cricket customers will be able to access Deezer and its music database, which includes 35 million songs and more than 30,000 internet radio stations. Muve Music will be shut down on February 7.
All new and existing Cricket customers on its LTE network can try Deezer for free for up to 15 days. Customers that were enrolled in Muve Music can get an even longer trial: two months for being Muve users, and another two months if they move to Cricket’s GSM network. Once the trial period is up, Cricket customers can sign up for a premium Deezer subscription for $6 per month.
Ever since Cricket was acquired by AT&T and transformed into a GSM operator, I’ve been wondering what would happen to Muve Music, Cricket’s music download service. This new Deezer deal looks like a solid replacement for Muve that benefits both companies: Cricket gets to offer its customers access to a large streaming music database at a discounted price, while Deezer gets a nice way to make a name for itself in the U.S.