MOG (online music)

History

Founded in June 2005, 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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

In March 2012, reports surfaced that Beats Electronicsan audio equipment company then majority-owned by mobile phone maker HTC, was planning to acquire MOG.

In April 2012, MOG announced a partnership with Telstra to bring MOG to Australia, the first region outside of the US to have access. Telstra and MOG launched under the BigPond Music branding on 21 June 2012. 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 The acquisition did not include MOG's advertising network, the MOG Music Network, which was sold in a separate deal on 24 August 2012 to the radio broadcasting and media company Townsquare Media.

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.

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

Features

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, 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 an internet connection. Web streams were 320 kbit/s MP3 files 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.

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.

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. Affiliates signed up to reach MOG's 38 million monthly unique visitors in the US (as of April 2011) who clicked through from blog post excerpts on MOG to read the full post on the affiliate site.

References

References

1. Kincaid. (2010-05-21). "MOG's Music Network Gaining Fast on Competitors, Still Has A Ways To Go". Techcrunch.com.
2. "MOG Executive Team & Board". Mog.com.
3. "About MOG". Mog.com.
4. (2008-08-12). "Rick Rubin goes digital, joins MOG board | Technology | Los Angeles Times". Latimesblogs.latimes.com.
5. "What happens to the MOG service and subscribers? – Beats Music Support".
6. (June 1, 2014). "MOG streaming music service shut down".
7. Mike Snider. (21 January 2014). "Beats Music sets shutdown date for MOG music service". [[USA TODAY]].
8. Peoples, Glenn. (2012-07-02). "Beats Electronics Acquires Mog".
9. (2006-06-21). "New Website Mixes Networking, Musical Taste". Spin.
10. (2006-06-20). "Attention Music Freaks: MOG Launches Groundbreaking Music Website. – Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com.
11. Mark Hendrickson. (2007-12-11). "MOG Integrates Rhapsody's Streaming Music Collection, Launches Redesign". Techcrunch.com.
12. Jason Kincaid. (2008-08-11). "MOG Launches Ad Network, Rick Rubin Joins Board". Techcrunch.com.
13. Arrington, Michael. (2009-12-02). "MOG Launches All Access, Sets New Standard For Online Music".
14. Kincaid, Jason. (2010-06-29). "MOG Gets Green Light From Apple For Upcoming iPhone App, Lands Deal With Roku".
15. (September 2018). "HTC unit Beats close to buying music service MOG". [[Reuters]] }}{{Dead link.
16. Glenn Hamilton. (17 April 2012). "MOG powered by Telstra – A massive deal for music lovers". [[Telstra]].
17. "The MOG Blog".
18. (2 July 2012). "Beats Electronics acquires MOG music service". USA Today.
19. (2 July 2012). "Beats Electronics Acquires Mog Rapper Dr. Dre's headphone makers scoop up digital streaming service". Adweek.
20. "Remaining half of Mog Music Network sells to Townsquare Media Group". MusicWeek.
21. Lunden, Ingrid. (2014-01-21). "Beats Will Shut Down MOG Music April 15; MOG Founder Joins Stealth Mobile Startup Chosen".
22. (June 2014). "MOG streaming music service shut down".
23. "MOG - Telstra Music Subscription Subscription Service - BPM - BigPond Music MP3 Downloads".
24. "Telstra announces closure of music-streaming service MOG".
25. "How MOG Works". MOG.
26. "What audio quality (Bitrate) does MOG support? / General Information / FAQs - MOG Support".
27. (2010-08-29). "Quality formats: 64-Kbps AAC and 320-Kbps MP3 / Questions / Discussion Area – MOG Support". Support.mog.com.
28. "The MOG Music Service Tour". Mog.com.
29. "Music Blog Ad Network – MOG Music Network FAQ". Mog.com.