For those of you who aren’t from Asia or haven’t really noticed, LINE is an extremely popular app in some Asian markets, such as Japan and Thailand, just to name a few. That being said, the company is more than just a messaging app as it has launched countless apps aimed at photographers, gamers, and more.
Recently it looks like the company is thinking of taking the likes of Apple and Spotify on as they have officially launched LINE Music in Japan. The music streaming service will offer up 1.5 million tracks at launch and will see them partner up with labels such as Sony, Universal, and Avex. In fact by launching in Japan, it looks like the company has beaten Apple to the punch as far as the Japanese market is concerned.
The service will be offered for free for the first two months, after which it will cost about $8 a month for unlimited access, or $4 a month for up to 20 hours of streaming. According to the company, they are planning to expand their catalogue to as many as 30 million tracks by next year, although unfortunately it seems that the company is currently targeting the Japanese market and there is no word on when it will expand to other markets.
That being said, it seems that unlike their chat and photography and gaming apps, LINE Music will not adopt the same cute characters and stickers that one has come to associate with the company. Instead the LINE Music app is rather sleek in its design as you can see in the screenshot above.