Is Tesla Working On Its Own Streaming Music Service?

Tesla already makes cars, solar panels and roofs, and CEO Elon Musk also dabbles in space travel, so maybe it’s not that big of a stretch that he’s also looking to create a new streaming music service.

According to music industry sources in the know who spoke with Recode, Musk has been chatting up major labels about licensing content for a streaming service that would be part of the package when people buy Tesla vehicles.

There aren’t many details about exactly what Tesla has in mind for the platform, but insiders think it would have different tiers, starting with a free radio offering similar to Pandora.

And while sure, car owners could connect to services like Spotify or Apple Music themselves, Tesla believes the more options drivers have, the merrier.

“We believe it’s important to have an exceptional in-car experience so our customers can listen to the music they want from whatever source they choose,” a Tesla spokesperson told Recode. “Our goal is to simply achieve maximum happiness for our customers.”

If Tesla does go ahead with its plans to integrate its own streaming music service, record labels are ready to license their music to multiple services, industry insiders noted, especially if it prevents any one platform from cornering the market entirely.

And as we know, when there are more choices, consumers win.

Whether or not the music service would include personalized playlists from Elon Musk with songs like “Electric Avenue” or “The Electric Slide” remains to be seen.

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.