Earth To Elon: Musk Wants To Conquer Music And The Ways It's Delivered

People, particularly American people, spend plenty of time in cars. And whether you listen to an iTunes version of a mix tape or a satellite station beamed down with your taste in hip-hop or garage rock, that time is Sirius money.

Tesla Inc TSLA wants to own a piece of your heart in drive time. Maybe all of it.

The hot carmaker is considering creating its own music streaming service, presumably to provide a soundtrack for rides in its electric automobiles. Or its SpaceX spaceships to Mars.

Recode, quoting music industry sources, said the company founded by CEO Elon Musk is in talks with major music labels about licensing a proprietary music service that would be bundled with its automobiles.

Tesla already has a deal with Spotify for autos sold outside the United States.

“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.”

Why Not Partner With Pandora?

The concept seems to take aim at multiple competitors, from iTunes by Apple Inc. AAPL to Pandora Media Inc P to Sirius XM Holdings Inc SIRI, the popular satellite radio service.

Entertainment trade journal Variety suggested that Tesla’s aim is not to partner up, but rather create its own proprietary revenue stream to go with its cars and spaceships.

“The reason for Tesla’s music ambitions could be a bigger strategy to move towards a dual revenue stream that includes service and subscription fees in addition to the significant upfront costs for one of the company’s cars,” it said.

“This could include in-car entertainment, which may feature a Tesla-branded music service, and work a bit like Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN Prime — pay a monthly or yearly membership fee, and get access to streaming music and a number of other perks.”

Forbes thinks the idea is just swell, and really in keeping with the Musk mystique, the Tony Stark-like guy who wants nothing less than to colonize Mars with his reusable SpaceX rocketships.

“This report (about music) certainly came out of left field, but at this point, the world should have learned not to be surprised by Elon Musk's seemingly limitless entrepreneurial ambitions.”

Trip Chowdhry, analyst at Global Equities Research, told Benzinga it is all part of the cosmic plan.

“Yes — TSLA is building a portfolio of Subscription Services to offer to its customers — At the end-of-the day — TSLA is in the business of selling experiences, which include:

• 1. Autonomous Experience.
  2. Zero-Pollution Experience.
  3. Driving Experience.
  4. Charging Experience and add to this.
  5. Music Experience."

Related Link: Why Tesla’s Valuation Is No Longer About The Model 3 ______ Image Credit: "In the Press Site auditorium of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA and industry leaders speak to the media at a post-launch news conference following the liftoff of SpaceX CRS-8, a commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station, or ISS. From left are: George Diller of NASA Communications, Kirk Shireman, NASA ISS Program manager at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Elon Musk, SpaceX chief executive officer and lead designer, and Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX vice president of Mission Assurance. SpaceX CRS-8 lifted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 4:43 p.m. EDT." By NASA Kennedy from United States - KSC-20160408-PH_KLS0003_0189, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons