From today, Australians can now access more than 16 million music tracks, discover new music with ease, access a massive catalogue of Australian music and never listen to an ad, with the launch of MOG music streaming service from Telstra.

MOG Inc. is a next-generation music media company founded in June 2005 by David Hyman, former CEO for Gracenote, former SVP of Marketing at MTV Interactive, and former Director of Ad Sales for Addicted to Noise.

Headquartered in Berkeley, San Francisco in California, MOG Inc. investors include Menlo Ventures, Balderton Capital, Simon Equity Partners, Universal Music Group and Sony Music. Grammy-winning record producer, Rick Rubin, named by Time Magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the world,” is a member of MOG’s Board of Directors.

David Hyman and myself at the MOG office in Berkeley, San Francisco

MOG began as a music-themed social network and blog network. Users could create profiles with information about their music tastes, and the now-discontinued MOG-O-MATIC client application assisted in the process by scanning users’ music libraries and populating their profiles with information about their music collection and listening activities.

MOG’s all-you-can-eat, on-demand listening service provides access to a vast library of over 16 million songs through its mobile apps on iPhone, iPad, iTouch and Android, online, on compatible streaming entertainment devices, Internet connected TVs and Blu-ray players and in the car.

MOG Inc. is also the provider of The MOG Music Network (MMN), a premier destination for music content online and largest music focused advertising network consisting of over 1000 music sites, reaching more than 60 million people each month (comScore 2012).

The new partnership between the award-winning MOG, and Australia’s leading telecommunications and digital content provider, Telstra, will deliver the highest quality streaming music service available in Australia (320kbps), via compatible PC’s, digital music players, Apple and Android smartphones, tablets and wireless HiFi systems such as Logitech Squeezebox and Sonos Music Systems. Other devices including Telstra home devices such as T-Box will be launched in the future.

MOG is available to all Australians, starting with a two-week free trial and regardless of their ISP or phone provider, with Telstra customers receiving the extra benefit of no data charges and the unmatched coverage of the Next G network.

At $6.99 per month for the PC-based service, or $11.99 per month for mobile devices, MOGdelivers 24/7 ad-free music listening.

To launch MOG in Australia Telstra Media teamed up with SBS show RocKwiz at Sydney’s Metro Theatre on Tuesday night to launch Telstra’s new MOG music streaming service.

We gathered the two most powerful players in the music business, Michael Gudinski and Michael Chugg to go head to head as team captains on the legendary SBS show with RocKwiz doing a private show, the first ever.

ARIA Award winner, Clare Bowditch, sees music subscription as an important part of the future landscape for Australian music lovers.

“The way we listen to music has changed enormously over the course of my life. From single CD’s on the CD Walkman – remember how frustrating it was trying to actually walk with them? – to online music subscription services like MOG. I am always on the hunt not only for new artists but also for hard-to-come-by rarities. MOG lets me do both of those things really easily, right from my smart phone” Clare said.

“One feature of MOG that I am especially enjoying is MOG Radio. It allows me to look up an old time artist like Lil Armstrong, whose music I’ve struggled to find elsewhere, and then, get suggestions about similar artists that other listeners have discovered, based on their own musical tastes.

“So a Lil Armstrong fan may lead me to Lanie Lane, C.W. Stoneking or some other brilliant music-makers who you would not necessarily have heard if you were just listening to commercial radio. It’s a really simple, rather ingenious way to discover new music, and to give old songs a new life,” she said.

Clare also said she will be watching the growth of subscription music services with interest as an artist.

“There are still many questions to be answered and much to learn about the way online music subscription will affect and change how we listen to and appreciate music. At this stage, the early signs for music-makers themselves look generally positive because music subscription offers an attractive alternative to music-piracy and a new way of exposure for artists.

“What we know without doubt from a music-lovers point of view is that we live in extremely fortunate times indeed,” she said.