
Music subscription service Deezer has forged a partnership with location-based service Foursquare that will reward Deezer subscribers for checking in to concerts.
Here’s how it works: a fan likes Deezer on Foursquare and then checks into concerts at over 15,000 venues in 15 countries. (Foursquare is a location-based social network where users “check in” at venues and share their location with friends. The company offers virtual rewards for frequent users. After seven or more check-ins, the fan could win a three-month subscription to Deezer Premium+ to access unlimited music on PCs and mobile devices.
This music reward is available only in 15 of the 182 markets in which Deezer operates: France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Spain, Italy, Brazil, the Netherlands, Mexico, Ireland, Indonesia, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and New Zealand.
Deezer has set the bar fairly high by requiring seven check-ins to possibly win a free, three-month subscription. The average person doesn’t attend many — if any — concerts. But the average person is also unlikely to spend €10 a month for a subscription service. This promotion is meant to whet music fans’ appetite for unlimited music in order to turn promotional subscribers into paying subscribers. Thus, it makes sense to target music fans that spend heavily on concerts and recorded music.
Foursquare needs its users to create listings for venues and check into those venues. A partnership with a music service can help serve both purposes. The service has lost some buzz over the years but continues to be a popular source of venue and location data for a range of online services. An April Forbes.com article said Foursquare’s API was receiving 75 million calls each day. The company says growth in new venue listings has cooled off in the United States, where it is based, but the number of new venues in countries like Brazil and Turkey are “exploding.”