Anglais : exposé « Deezer »

Introduction :
Hello, today we will introduce you to the company named Deezer which is a French online music streaming service.
Deezer allows its users to access over 90 (=ninety) million tracks from record companies around the world, as well as
audio content and podcasts on various online and offline devices.

Summary :
I/ The history and evolution of the company
II/ Company structure and competitive strategy
III/ The problem encountered

Firstly, we are going to talk about the history and evolution of Deezer. Then, we will look at the company structure
and its competitive strategy based on the organisation's key data, the international dimension, the different types of
subscription on Deezer and also the main competitors and the strategy put in place by Deezer to stand out. After, we
will see the problem encountered by the company. And finally, we will conclude.

I/ The history and evolution of the company

In 2006, Daniel Marhely developed the first version of Deezer, called “Blogmusik”, in Paris because he wanted to use
streaming technology to give music fans unlimited access.

The site in its original incarnation "Blogmusik" was accused of copyright infringement by the French agency SACEM
and was shut down in April 2007. Daniel Marhely and Jonathan Benassaya, then, relaunched the site as “Deezer” on
22 August 2007, after reaching an agreement with SACEM to pay copyright holders with the revenue from advertising
on the site.

At the time of its launch in 2007, Deezer had not yet negotiated agreements with the major music labels and
therefore offered a limited catalogue. It took more than two years to sign deals with the four biggest labels, such as
Sony Music or Universal Music Group, which allowed it to massively increase the number of songs available.

It is by making agreements with other companies in the music industry, by diversifying its listening options or by
offering paid services to users that Deezer was able to become the leading music listening site in France, years later.

II/ Company structure and competitive strategy

Some key data on the organisation and functioning of the company :

Deezer is a public limited company with a board of Directors, with headquarters based in Paris.

The co-founders are Daniel Marhely and Jonathan Benassaya and since 2021, the CEO of the company is Jeronimo
Folgueira.

Deezer is the second largest independent music platform in the world. In total, there are 9.6 million subscribers
worldwide and over 600 employees for the company. The site, apart from music labels, has partnerships with
Orange, SFR and RTL.

Deezer's turnover was 400 million euros in 2021.

The international dimension of the company :

Deezer was launched in France where it is still the market leader. However in 2011, Deezer, at the time available only
in Belgium, France and the United Kingdom, announced plans to expand worldwide.

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Indeed, since 2012, Deezer has continued to expand globally, across Europe, North and South America, Africa,
Oceania and Asia (excluding China). Today, Deezer is available in nearly 200 countries.

In addition to their geographical expansion, Deezer has also developed their website by launching an application for
mobiles and computers, giving users the possibility to create their own playlists, offering playlists such as the top 10
most listened tracks according to their country, and launching paid services.

The different subscription types on Deezer :

Indeed, this online music streaming site offers music on demand with several types of subscriptions :

 Deezer Free  with ads, a limited number of skips (six per hour) and no offline mode.
 Deezer Premium  with no ads, no skip limit and an offline mode for the price of 10.99 euros per month (after
the first 3 months offered).
 Deezer Family  which shares the same advantages as Deezer Premium but with the possibility of having 6
different accounts for the price of 17.99 euros (after the first 3 months offered).
 There is also Deezer Student which offers the same advantages as Deezer Premium but at a lower price for
students between 18 and 25 years old (5.99 euros per month).

The main competitors and the strategy put in place by Deezer to stand out:

Deezer's competitors are Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and many others... Nevertheless, the main competitor
remains the world leader, Spotify.

Spotify and Deezer offer quite similar content in terms of music, podcasts and audio documents, but also in terms of
subscriptions, although Spotify is always cheaper than Deezer, regardless of the subscription type.

For Deezer, this similarity makes it all the more difficult to stand out. According to their website, Deezer’s growth
strategy is based on four strategic pillars:
 focus on large markets
 partnership-led growth
 differentiation
 operational excellence

We can see that this strategy seems to be working as Deezer remains the leading music streaming site in France.

III/ The problem encountered

In addition to problems with music labels or competition with other platforms, Deezer is now facing a data leakage
problem.

Indeed, they confirmed on 3 January 2023, the leakage of its users data via a massive hack dating from 2019. This
data leak would concern email addresses, IP addresses and contact details of users but not passwords and bank
details. A total of 257 million users worldwide were affected.

To counter this, Deezer have warned users via Twitter where they provide a web page explaining how to protect their
data and how to avoid email phishing.

The measures taken by Deezer do not seem to be effective enough as very few users are aware of this data leak and
therefore cannot protect themselves against it.

Conclusion :
To sum up, we now understand the impact that Deezer has on the world of music, both nationally and
internationally, due in particular to its marketing strategies and its very varied catalogue. This has allowed the
company to become one of the world leaders in terms of music streaming service. Thank you for listening !

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