While you may be familiar with the free version of iHeartRadio (because, you know, the radio is free), the company says that its newest offering “turbocharges the live radio experience, instead of being another me-too version of Spotify and all the rest.” For $5 a month, you can listen to the radio as you used to, but when you come across a song you’re particularly intrigued by, you can instantly replay it, save it to your custom station, and gradually curate your “My Music” list, filled with all your favorite tunes. And of course, if you don’t like a song, you’ll be able to skip it, and as many others as you’d like.
“Ten times more Americans listen to radio every month than use a subscription service, so the debut of iHeartRadio Plus and iHeartRadio All Access powered by Napster is a unique opportunity to capture these non-music subscribers with an on demand service built around radio,” said Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia.
“Whereas the LP, CD and music downloads are the ancestors of all current on demand services, the ancestor for our new on demand offerings is broadcast radio. By combining radio’s popularity and reach with interactive on demand functionality, we have created the first fully differentiated streaming music service for consumers.”
