Sony has announced the expansion of its online music streaming service, Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity, to Australia, the United States and New Zealand, joining users in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Span.

The service, which allows users on Internet-connected Sony devices, such as its line of BRAVIA televisions, Blu-Ray players and PlayStation computers, will stream music from all four major labels – Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music, Warner Music and EMI, in addition with independent labels. It currently has 6 million songs, but that is expected to expand. Third-party Android phones will also be able to access the service.

The service comes with two plans – Basic ($4.99 AUD) and Premium ($12.99 AUD) – both monthly subscription. The Basic plan offers users access to the service, but a-la radio stations – where songs will be chosen by Sony, but you can choose channels customised by genre, era and mood. The Premium plan will allow access songs and play them on demand, create personal playlists and gain access to more channels with latest hits.

Music can also be synchronised with their existing library – with the exception of files laced with DRM – meaning users can stream their own music on the go in addition to Sony’s offering.

Full press release is below.

“Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity™” Available Today in United States, Australia and New Zealand

Sydney – 18 February 2011 – Sony Corporation (“Sony”) announces that “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity™,” will be available today in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand – https://music.qriocity.com

“Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity™” is a new, cloud-based, digital music service which gives music lovers access at any time to a constantly growing catalogue of millions of songs from major labels including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music as well as leading independent labels and major publishers worldwide. The “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity” catalogue will initially offer about six million songs and will continue to expand over time.

The service debuted in the U.K. and Ireland in December 2010 and became available in France, Germany, Italy and Spain in January 2011, representing one of the fastest global roll-outs ever seen for a digital music service.

Users can play music any time through “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity” on a wide variety of Internet-connected Sony devices including Sony’s 2010 and 2011 models of network-enabled BRAVIA® TV, Blu-ray Disc™ player, Blu-ray Disc Home Theatre system, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system as well as VAIO and other personal computers.   All existing PlayStation 3 computer entertainment systems in these countries will have access to the service.  It will also become available on a wide range of Sony’s portable devices, as well as on Sony and third-party Android-based mobile devices and other portable devices.

“As we expand ‘Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity’ around the globe, it signifies a paradigm shift which redefines the existing music listening experience by revolutionising music access, discovery, integration and personalisation,” said Kazuo Hirai, President of Networked Products & Services Group, Sony Corporation. “Through Sony’s high quality network-enabled devices, we are focused on delivering dynamic services ‘powered by Qriocity’ to offer global customers with compelling digital entertainment propositions.”

“By combining real choice and convenience, a fully integrated entertainment experience and global reach, Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity provides a compelling new way for fans to connect with Universal Music’s market leading roster of artists and their music,” stated Rob Wells, President of Global Digital Business at Universal Music Group.

“We are very supportive of a cloud‑based music service such as Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity – it’s about consumer convenience and access to all the music you want from all the devices you have,” said Thomas Hesse, President of Global Digital Business, U.S. Sales and Corporate Strategy at Sony Music Entertainment.  “It starts with the living room, which has really been underserved in terms of digital music. There has not been much innovation in the living room, yet that’s where more than 70 percent of consumers say they listen to music.  Sony has a unique position in the living room, with its PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, for example, connected to the Internet, televisions, and surround sound systems in millions of living rooms around the globe.”

“When we look at U.S. consumers, we see a large segment that we characterise as ‘lean back’ who are frequent listeners to terrestrial radio and listen to more than 20 hours of music a week. This is a very committed and engaged segment that loves music. They will be reached in the digital living room before they would be reached through the current digital music offerings,” said Michael Nash, Executive Vice President of Digital Strategy and Business Development at Warner Music Group. “Sony has listened to the consumer and has devised a service that is very well targeted to this marketplace opportunity.”

“The expansion of Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity into the US and Australasia provides a great opportunity to grow the digital music market further in both regions,” said Mark Piibe, Executive Vice President - Global Business Development at EMI Music. “Sony Network Entertainment, together with their partners Omnifone and Gracenote, possess tremendous reach and a compelling new platform for consumers to discover and enjoy the music they love. This is a welcome addition to the digital music market, and we are happy to support it.”

“Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity” Features

With Basic (US$3.99, AU$4.99, NZ$5.99) and Premium (US$9.99, AU$12.99, NZ$13.99) monthly subscription plans, “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity” offers breadth of content and easy music discovery features cited as most important by music enthusiasts.

The Basic plan works as an infinite ad-free radio station and subscribers can listen to dozens of personalised channels – categorised by genre, era as well as mood through SensMe™ – without the requirement to download or manage their music files. Additionally, the Premium subscription plan offers a one-time 30 day Premium free trial enabling users to listen in full to every song on demand, create personal playlists of favourites, and gain access to premium Top 100 channels which are regularly updated with the latest hits.

By studying users’ listening habits, incorporating their ‘like/dislike’ song ratings, analysing their existing music collections and more, “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity” adapts to users’ music preferences and constantly tailors music channels to offer the most compatible and enjoyable list of songs. Therefore, the more you listen, the more uniquely personalised your music channels become.

Furthermore, users can also synchronise their existing music files and playlists from other media players including iTunes® into “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity,” and enjoy their existing music at any time across all compatible devices.

Powering the back-end of “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity” are Omnifone™ and Gracenote®.  Omnifone provided its award-winning platform services to develop and deliver the service across a range of device platforms as well as licensed the service with rights holders around the world to provide a global catalogue of more than six million tracks, while Gracenote’s music identification and discovery technologies and Global Media Database create a rich experience for subscribers, letting them enjoy their existing digital music collection and discover new artists and albums within the service.

Sony also debuted “Video On Demand powered by Qriocity™,” the first service ‘powered by Qriocity,’ in April 2010 in the U.S. Currently, “Video On Demand powered by Qriocity” is also available in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and the U.K. Through the same log-in ID & wallet, users can access both “Video On Demand powered by Qriocity” and “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity” across their compatible devices.

According to TorrentFreak, the two currently live outside of Sweden, and proving that either one is still involved in an active role on the site will be difficult without monitoring every step they make.

Guess what! Australia can now officially access VEVO.com! That would be great news, but there is a downside. While you can access the pages, you will not be able to play any of the content – mainly because of rights restrictions (meaning those living in Canada, US or Japan are allowed to view the videos).

However, there is a way to watch videos from VEVO – and that’s on YouTube; and it’s pretty simple. Just go to the end of the forward slash after youtube.com, write the artist’s first and last name (no space between) and add VEVO at the end of the name. It’s pretty much a hit or miss, because not all artists have a profile like this. You can still play the video from VEVO on the YouTube player, but it has to be an artist signed by Universal Music Group as others will be blocked.

I should also note, on my experience, it does stop to buffer a lot; and that you will not know how much has been already downloaded (that little red thing that progressively gets to the end of the seek bar).

The videos are said to be returning by the end of the year, at the earliest.

The agreement will give more control to Warner, including the right to sell its own advertising to its “enhanced” channels devoted to its artists, as well on any user uploaded clip that uses any song belonging to one of its artists. The ad revenue made by Warner will be shared by YouTube, with Warner keeping most of that cash.

This agreement is similar to the latest licensing agreement made by Universal Music and YouTube, which introduced this new formula of ad sharing, with a notable exception – it is not creating a standalone website, unlike Universal. Under the new agreement with Universal Music, YouTube will become a partner to build a new music video sharing site VEVO.

However, while reports say this could jeopardise VEVO, there are rumours now that Warner is currently in talks of partnering with the site. Currently, Warner and EMI are the two labels who have not signed a deal with the site, with Sony Music joining in June this year. Both Sony and Universal make half of the “Big Four” record labels.

News of the new deal sent Warner’s share price up to US$5.62, up by 8.91 percent.

The new deal would bring an end to a feud after a prior licensing agreement between both parties, with attempts to renew the deal broke down. Warner Music artists, including artists that are not signed to their labels but are distributed by the company, were removed from YouTube in December and their songs were banned on YouTube – which includes removing the audio from the video.

The new deal would bring Warner Music back with Universal, Sony Music and EMI – allowing YouTube to boast again that they have all four big music labels on their site.

Both companies have declined to comment on the story.

Warner Music, which is the home for artists including the rapper T.I. and Red Hot Chili Peppers, was the first major media company that negotiated and made a deal with YouTube. As well, as part of the original negotiation, Warner, Sony Music and Universal all took small stakes in YouTube before the site got acquired by Google, which allowed them to profit from the deal.

The deal gave the record labels a share of any ad revenue and a per-play fee associated with a video uploaded by them, or a video uploaded by a user (in the case for Universal’s deal). While the per-play fee is a fraction of one penny, according to Reuters; the millions of users watching videos on YouTube add up to a substantial amount.

"We simply cannot accept terms that fail to appropriately and fairly compensate recording artists, songwriters, labels and publishers for the value they provide," the record label said in a statement.

However, one source told Reuters that Warner Music’s music videos were “staggering low”. Out of the top 10 YouTube channels, 7 are music related. Warner Music is the 11th largest channel, according to CNET News. But, one record label has spoken out and said that it was making profits from the site that has no business model.

Universal Music, talking to CNET News, has said that it is expected to get nearly $100 million in revenue from video streaming from deals with YouTube, MTV, MySpace and iMeem – but most of the cash is coming from its videos from YouTube.

"It’s really coming to fruition I think in part due to YouTube’s recent focus on monetization," said Rio Caraeff, who is the executive vice presidents of Universal Group’s eLabs group, “and really trying to drive revenue around premium content more so than they have in the history of their short existence. They have finally turned their spotlight on ‘How do we turn this into a business?’ And that’s benefiting the entire ecosystem of content owners as well."