Friday 29 Mar 2024
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PETALING JAYA (April 17): Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd has launched RAKU, Malaysia’s first personalised radio and music streaming service which is available on personal computers (PCs), tablets and smartphones, with the aim of reaching 500,000 active users in six months.

Astro Malaysia (fundamental: 1.1; valuation: 1.7) chief operating officer Henry Tan said as RAKU is a totally new product, he cannot give a projection of the service’s contribution to the company’s earnings yet.

“We are not setting a new [earnings] target for that. We are taking feedback. Once we hit a certain level of threshold, we can let you know in greater accuracy [as to] the kind of expectation we have,” he told reporters during the service’s launch here today.

He also said RAKU enables users to pick and choose the best of local and international music and radio content, with options to combine with podcasts.

“RAKU looks to increase its advertisers’ value proposition by offering innovative opportunities for advertisers to engage with their target consumers,” he added.

The service is available in two versions — free or at a premium of RM14.90 per month — and is downloadable via www.raku.my for PCs, Google Play Store for androids and App Store (US$5.99-per month) for iOS devices.

Both free and premium users can listen to the existing 1.2 million songs by local and international artists in the RAKU database — which will be upgraded to more than 10 million songs in three to six months.

But only premium users who pay that monthly RM14.90 fee, which is inclusive of the 6% goods and services tax (GST), can download and save the songs they want or listen to live performances in Malaysia on demand.

The service is targeted for local users, since due to copyrights issue, most of its content is not available outside Malaysia, said Tan.

On whether the service will affect Astro’s radio revenue, Tan said “the market is big enough and the offering is slightly different.”

Tan also said there is a huge opportunity for advertisers, as they can target their core audience through the service, for example, by associating their brands with a specialised playlist.

Mobile telecommunications company Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of DiGi.Com Bhd (fundamental: 1.55; valuation: 2.1), is the first premier advertiser on RAKU.

“We’re happy to partner with Raku, as it is very much in line with Digi Live brand objective to offer our customers the newest and most inspiring entertainment content, along with the latest digital service innovations from partners. Now, customers who listen to Hitz fm, ERA fm and MY FM can enjoy unlimited streaming via our newly-launched Digi Music Freedom pass,” said Digi’s head of digital services Praveen Rajan.

Astro Radio chief executive officer Jake Abdullah said the service could generate a lot of business opportunities like merchandise for fans, among others.

Jake also thinks RAKU can be a great opportunity for the local artists to be featured and that artists could enjoy some revenue from the song downloads.

Tan said the company has contracted with over 70 local artists and will pay them a “decent portion” for the rights of the songs.

The company is now busy tying up with other content providers to get more content.

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