MOG (online music)

MOG is a paid subscription online music service and blog network, where users can listen to, read about, and discover music. Users can play any song in MOG's catalog on their computer through their web browser; on their mobile device through MOG's applications for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android platform; via the multi-room Sonos system, and on their television through MOG's channel on the Roku Digital Video Player. MOG also allows users to access aggregated editorial content from thousands of music blogs, user posts, and in-house editors.

MOG was founded by David Hyman, former CEO of Gracenote, former SVP of Marketing at MTV Interactive, and co-founder of Addicted to Noise. MOG is a privately-held company headquartered in Berkeley, CA. The company has raised $24.9 million in capital from a variety of sources, including Balderton Capital, Menlo Ventures, Simon Equity, Universal Music Group, and Sony Music. Famed music producer Rick Rubin is a member of MOG's board of directors.

Features

MOG is an ad-free subscription service that allows users to access MOG's catalog of 10 million songs on their computer, iPhone, iPod Touch, Android phone, and television (through MOG's Roku channel).Users can stream any song in MOG's catalog on-demand to any of these devices, and can download as many songs as will fit on their mobile device for playback within the MOG mobile application. By default, web streams are 320 kbps mp3 files and mobile streams are 64 kbps AAC files. Users choose whether mobile downloads are 'high-quality' 320 kbps mp3 files or 64 kbps AAC files.

MOG Radio, accessible through any of the platforms mentioned above, automatically generates 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 determines whether the radio plays only songs by the selected artist, or whether and how often songs by similar artists are added to the queue. When the user's song selection ends, MOG Radio begins to play and continues until the user makes another selection.

Two different subscription plans are currently available. A $5/month plan allows users to access MOG through the web and through the Roku channel, and a $10/month plan allows access though these platforms and through supported mobile devices.

History

Founded in June 2005, MOG began as a music-themed social network and blog network. Users could create profiles with information about their music tastes, and the now-discontinued MOG-O-MATIC client application assisted in the process by scanning users' music libraries and populating their profiles with information about their music collection and listening activities. MOG would also recommend users with similar music tastes, and users were able to 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 aggregates posts from affiliate blogs and those created by MOG's in-house music editors.

In December 2009, MOG launched its own subscription music service, which allows subscribers to stream any song in MOG's catalog on-demand to their computer through their web browser. In July 2010, MOG released mobile applications for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android phones, 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.