WHAT RHYMES
WITH DEEZER?

French-born streaming service Deezer is making an all-out effort to keep its place at the digital-music table in the wake of ever-growing competition from Spotify and Apple Music. Along with launching its first rhyme-tastic TV ad campaign, Deezer looks set for an IPO to raise funds for more marketing and telecoms deals.

There were rumors the company was headed for the skids after CEO Axel Dauchez left in 2014, MD Mark Foster exiting a few months later. But current Chief Exec Hans-Holger Albrecht is charging on and wants to IPO before the end of this year, according to WSJ. A valuation figure is currently being pitted at around €1 billion ($1.12 billion)—more than Shazam’s valuation back in January. Deezer is said to have 16m subscribers, with 6m of those paid.

First aired last week, Deezer’s TV ad campaign in Blighty was agreed with Channel 4 in June and is said to involve some sort of equity-stake agreement. If so, C4 joins Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries as a minority shareholder.

Backed by a track from Colombian band Bomba Estéreo “Soy Yo,” the first advert features a leather-clad geezer with some tweezers alongside a “sneezer,” a “crowd pleaser” and, finally, Deezer: “all the music you love in one place.”

A rising tide that lifts all ships? Perhaps not, but the efforts could cause a ripple, at least.