Beats Audio, the headphone company affiliated with legendary rapper Dr. Dre, is rumored to be in discussions to purchase music startup MOG, according to multiple reports.
MOG is a subscription-based streaming music service that’s similar to Rdio, Rhapsody, and Spotify. MOG offers a free ad-supported version of the service, an ad-free $4.99 per month web subscription, and an ad-free $9.99 per month web/mobile device subscription.
Despite massive growth from integration with Facebook’s Open Graph, MOG still struggles to compete against the large number of competitors. MOG’s chief executive denied rumors that his company was looking for a potential buyer, as VentureBeat first reported back in February.
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The deal between MOG and Beats hasn’t been finalized, according to an AllThingsD report. The acquisition would make sense for Beats, which counts mobile phone maker HTC as its majority owner. HTC already has Beats’ speakers inside its mobile devices. Should the deal go through, a Beats Audio-owned MOG service could also be paired with HTC devices.
Update: BusinessInsider’s Matt Rosoff just pointed out that he first reported the rumor in a report yesterday.
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