Even RIM Will Offer a Music Subscription Service, is Apple Next?

Before WWDC, all the buzz about iCloud was that it would bring a music subscription model to iTunes. As it turned out, iCloud is nothing of the sort, with syncing being the main feature of iCloud.

While hope springs eternal that Jobs and co. will see the good sense and offer a Spotify clone sooner rather than later, it seems one of the Cupertino outfit’s smartphone competitors could be about offer a somewhat new take on the music sharing situation, and it’s an interesting one…

Unlike streaming services like Spotify, Research in Motion’s approach involves crowd sourcing your music collection, with friends’ music becoming available to you via a new BlackBerry app.

CrackBerry has the scoop.

  • Users will have to download the new standalone BlackBerry music app from App World
  • Once installed, there *should* be a free trial (may vary by country/carrier – but expect a month free)
  • Once the free trial expires, the service will cost $5/mo.
  • With the app installed, you can choose up to 50 songs of your choice. Apparently the catalog selection is pretty good!
  • From there, you invite your contacts via BBM, etc. to also download the app if they don’t have it and join your music sharing network (invited contacts must pay the $5/mo. also to take part and remain part of the service).
  • From there, you can listen to not only the 50 songs you’ve selected), but any of the 50 songs from your music sharing network. So if you have 20 contacts, you’ll have access to 1,000 other songs in addition to your 50. We’re not sure yet if there’s a limit to how many people you can share with, but essentially the more people in your music sharing group the more music you’ll have access to.

It’s an interesting concept, but it’s most certainly not one we expect Apple to emulate any time soon. The new service would, though, offer a new unique selling point to a flailing BlackBerry business that is in desperate need of revival. Whether this is the way to do it remains to be seen. But we doubt Apple will be too worried, either way.