Streaming music service MOG was officially acquired by audio hardware company Beats Electronics today, reports USA Today.
MOG is a subscription-based streaming music service that’s similar to Rdio, Rhapsody, and Spotify. It offers a free ad-supported version of the service, an ad-free $4.99 per month web subscription, and an ad-free $9.99 per month web/mobile device subscription. The purchase by Beats comes after months of rumors that MOG was up for sale, which the music service half-denied.
It was initially thought that MOG sold for around $14 million, but the USA Today post notes that the final price was significantly higher.
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So why did Beats go after MOG instead of one of the other services?
Beats said that MOG was an attractive purchase because it was the first music service to offer its entire 16-million-song catalog in the 320 kbps format as well as its ability to scale across multiple platforms and devices. I’m not sure how big of a deal that actually is, but the unspoken reason for Beats’ purchase of MOG had to be that the electronics company thinks it’ll help sell more headphones and such.
“Beats is a company as obsessed with sound quality as we are, and we share a common goal of creating a more premium sound experience and emotional connection with music in the digital era,” MOG founder and CEO David Hyman told USA Today.
Founded in 2005, Berkeley, Calif.-based MOG had raised $24.9 million in total funding from Menlo Ventures, Balderton Capital, and others.
