Originally introduced to the world earlier this year in conjunction with TV3’s Anugerah Juara Lagu 28, Media Prima Berhad today has launched its music streaming service called TontonMusic to the public once again. It is essentially a spin-off to the immensely popular Tonton Online video streaming service and the current iteration of TontonMusic allows users to stream music for free via its website.
We decided to give it a test run earlier today, so here is what we think of it.
In general, the interface for TontonMusic is rather straight forward with each major section of its website are clearly labelled. There are plenty of ways users able to listen to music through the site: by genre, artists, or albums. Users are also able to search for individual songs on TontonMusic.
Among things that made TontonMusic different from other streaming services out there is that it also features elements from Media Prima’s radio station such as FlyFM, HotFM, and one FM . These elements includes playlist based on each station’s charts and DJ talkset but make no mistake: there’s actually no live radio on TontonMusic.
There’s also custom music function called Magic Radio where you can create your own custom playlist using your choice of DJ talk set, music genres, and artists. However, there is no option to select the playback quality on TontonMusic.
In terms of music catalogue, I feel that TontonMusic is still far behind from music streaming services that already available in our market such as Deezer, Spotify, or even Nokia MixRadio for Lumia smartphones. This goes for both international and local artists; more so for older or much more obscure artists although users in general would have not much problem in finding current chart topping songs on the service.
That being said, TontonMusic does offer soundtrack from a selection of local movies and drama series which are not commonly available out there and. Soundtrack album for certain Bollywood and Hollywood movies are also available through the service.
If there is one significant flaw about TontonMusic that I noticed during our test run with it today, it would be its queue list. I found that the list is rather gimped since users are not able to individually add songs to it. You also not able to arrange or delete songs from the queue although you still able to switch from one songs to another easily. There’s no shuffle function too.
As far as a free music streaming service goes, Media Prima Digital has certainly built a solid foundation for TontonMusic. Even though its music catalogue might not be as extensive (yet) as other established streaming services out there, TontonMusic does slightly stand out from other services thanks to its catalogue of sountrack from local movies and dramas in addition to the DJ talk set from Media Prima’s radio station.
Now, let’s see if TontonMusic is able to replicate the success of the original Tonton Online streaming service. In my opinion, it is certainly achievable as long as Media Prima Digital continues to improve TontonMusic over time with better features and more contents.
TontonMusic music streaming service can be accessed for free through www.tontonmusic.com.my.
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Telegram for more updates and breaking news.
