With the continuing growth of music streaming services like Spotify and Pandora, Slacker (News - Alert) Radio has just finished a complete overhaul to try and challenge the top dogs, so to speak.
Both Pandora (60 million active listeners) and Spotify (20 million) trump Slacker’s 4 million active listeners, but with this re-launch and the offering of new features the company hopes to be a viable alternative for music fans.
Slacker Radio not only unveiled a new platform, but it also now offers multiple paid tiers and a library of songs music lovers won’t find on any other music streaming app. Slacker will also offer listeners an alternative to music including local and national news and sports talk radio stations.
”Slacker works directly with record labels to offer a massive music library of more than 13 million songs, with new tracks added daily. Listeners can also personalize their experience with the industry’s deepest customization tools and easily add news, sports and talk from ABC and ESPN (News - Alert),” the company in a statement.
Most music streaming apps are controlled by a bot, but Slacker wanted to provide a human element and has incorporated DJs to create unique playlists. Along with the human element, Slacker offers over 200 “expert curated” stations and one of the largest collections of music with over 13 million songs available to listeners along.
“Slacker’s team of expert music curators also constantly update Slacker’s more than 200 genre and specialty stations so the music is always new, fresh and surprising,” added the company.
Slacker will continue to offer its services for free to its listeners but will also feature two different tiered services. The first option would be an upgrade to Slacker Radio Plus for a $4 monthly subscription. This upgrade will eliminate ads and limit how many songs a listener can skip.
For $10 per month, listeners can upgrade to a Premium subscription which will allow user direct access to songs along with the ability to save custom playlists.
It’s too early to determine whether or not the revamped platform and new features will steal listeners away from other music streaming apps, but Slacker certainly didn’t hurt itself with the new re-launch.