Psonar picks Bango for its pay-per-play music offering

Mobile billings specialist Bango has secured Psonar as a customer for its new pay-per-play digital music streaming service. Psonar's service will allow mobile users to listen to a track they don't own for EUR 0.01 per play. Tracks can be listened to in full, uninterrupted and with no intrusive advertising or monthly subscriptions. To support this pricing model, Psonar is using the Bango payment platform, which presents the user with a pay-to-phone-bill charge. Mobile bill payment is supplemented by credit card and PayPal. Supported by music and video distributor, The Orchard, as a launch partner, Psonar is initially launching pay-per-play across Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, and Scandinavia in Q2 2011. North America is targeted for later in the year. The service will initially be available online via desktop access and HTML5 enabled phones. BlackBerry and iPhone apps are due for launch in Q1 2011, followed by other major smartphone platforms.