iHeartMedia Launches 'iHeartRadio Plus' And 'iHeartRadio All Access'

New Offerings

iHEARTMEDIA has launched the beta availability of iHEARTRADIO PLUS and iHEARTRADIO ALL ACCESS powered by NAPSTER. The company boasts, "this is the first service that uses on-demand functionality to make radio truly interactive, as compared to all current players which simply add on-demand functionality to the music collection experience." Available now in beta on iOS and ANDROID devices, the two new services will be fully available on mobile and desktop in JANUARY 2017.

“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 iHEARTMEDIA Chairman/CEO BOB PITTMAN. “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.” 

With all of the features we've added, we have fixed the broken experience between music discovery and music collecting.

iHEARTRADIO PLUS, $4.99 a month, offers:

• Replay: Giving subscribers the ability to instantly replay songs from the radio and then return to the live radio station in progress;
• Live and custom Artist Radio stations: Now equipped with a save button, allowing subscribers to instantly save songs from the radio directly to their My Music playlist for playback any time;
• Search: Search and play any song from a library of millions of tracks; 
• Unlimited skips: Subscribers listening to custom Artist Radio stations will no longer have a limit on the number of songs they can skip.

 
iHEARTRADIO ALL ACCESS powered by NAPSTER, at $9.99 a month, combines the interactive radio functionally of iHEARTRADIO PLUS with, "a complete music collection and library that is linked seamlessly to the radio listening experience."  Given that 70% of consumers -- which includes users of on demand music services -- have cited radio as their primary source of music discovery, "there is finally a service that allows them the convenience and accessibility of merely pushing a button to add a song immediately to their music collection at the same time they hear it on the radio -- something no other music collection service can offer."

This new offering has the ability to:

• Build subscribers’ personal music libraries: Completely create, control and curate playlists from a library of millions of tracks; 
• Give subscribers total flexibility to listen to their music the way they want, when they want: With no playback cap and the ability to reorder, delete and sequence their playlist experience as well as manage unlimited playlists;
• Access offline listening:  Subscribers can now enjoy offline listening and take their music and playlists with them everywhere they go, even when they don’t have a data connection.

“iHEARTRADIO PLUS and iHEARTRADIO ALL ACCESS powered by NAPSTER are revolutionizing how we think of live radio,” said iHEARTRADIO Pres. DARREN DAVIS. “With features such as personal music libraries and playlists, the ability to search and play any song instantly, and the option to save and replay songs directly from live and custom radio listening, our new iHEARTRADIO on demand offerings are fundamentally changing the way consumers interact with live radio at an unprecedented level.  We are introducing a service like no other to tens of millions of consumers across dozens of devices, and also driving massive awareness of the new service to more than a quarter of a billion Americans a month through our broadcast stations alone, which presents a major revenue growth opportunity for our very important strategic partners - artists and the music industry.”

DAVIS gave additional, exclusive comments to ALL ACCESS: "The app went live at midnight and it was very surreal to see it and download it -- to see it live and working and make it a reality after months and months of work and planning. We are just in beta, so our DECEMBER campaign is kind of a whisper campaign but officially launches in JANUARY."

When asked about what percentage of current iHEARTRADIO APP users they expected to join up as paid subscribers to iHEARTRADIO PLUS and iHEARTRADIO ALL ACCESS, DAVIS said, "We used the power of radio to build the audience of the iHEARTRADIO APP -- and we have 90 millions registered users to the iHEARTRADIO APP. We are not sure yet as this will all unfold in terms of paid subscriptions yet, but this will be a huge boost to the iHEART brand over all and this help us boost our 850 stations!  

"It puts these stations in the palm of listeners' hands and grows our ratings and turbo charges our relationships.  Even in the absence of subscriptions, this is a very exciting event for the entire company and the pride on what we've done here is terrific.

"With all of the features we've added, we have fixed the broken experience between music discovery and music collecting.  Over 75% of SPOTIFY users and 70% of PANDORA users discover new music on the radio according to research.  And in the old days we had to go to somewhere else to 'collect' it -- now it's all available with the iHEARTRADIO app!

"Convenience always wins which is why we believe this will work -- at the touch of a button the song you hear on Z100 is saved to your iHEARTRADIO APP. It's simple and easy.  We are going for a different pool of people other than the SPOTIFY or PANDORA users, bringing on-demand functionality to the mass market.  

"We have the 'blowtorch to promote this with our own stations -- which is what will give this wings.  This is a big day for our team!"

iHEARTMEDIA partnered with NAPSTER to power the music technology back office behind iHEARTRADIO ALL ACCESS. NAPSTER brought their experience in on-demand music delivery, customer billing, data and analytics and rights holders’payments to complement the iHEARTRADIO-based application.

“iHEARTMEDIA has a unique opportunity to shine a spotlight on the tremendous value premium streaming services bring to music fans, and to the music community at large,” said NAPSTER CEO MIKE DAVIS. “We're honored that iHEARTMEDIA selected the NAPSTER platform and brand to power a great music experience for consumers, and we're excited to play a role in what will be a successful launch."

Aside from the two new subscription on-demand services, iHEARTRADIO will remain free.

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