iHeartRadio takes the next step in interactivity

“Take control of how you listen to the radio,” is the message behind iHeartRadio’s innovation in music rental services.

Radio streaming will be enhanced with on-demand functionality from two new subscription services, iHeartRadio Plus and iHeartRadio All Access

The two new enhancements to iHeartRadio’s current streaming service, announced to coincide with the iHeart Music Festival, will be launched in the US next January and will be available in Australia some time after that.

“Very soon, you will be able to hear a song on your favorite radio station and instantly save it to a playlist, replay songs, take the music from your favorite stations offline, enjoy unlimited skips and play any song on demand from our library of 30 million tracks,” says the launch publicity.

With these new services, iHeartRadio will allow listeners to “bridge the divide between music discovery and collection by incorporating true interactivity into the radio listening experience” through a variety of new features.

iHeartRadio believes this presents even more opportunities to grow revenue for artists and the music industry. With the U.S. monthly reach of a quarter of a billion listeners across their broadcast stations – and the 84% of iHeartRadio users who do not currently subscribe to any on demand service, iHeartRadio has the ability to introduce a paid service on a national scale in the US to a large new audience.

“iHeartRadio Plus is designed to serve as an addition to other on demand services, not as a replacement. It’s a perfect add-on, enhancing the radio listening experience for both new on demand subscribers and those who currently subscribers to other, traditional on demand music collection services.”

The new features were developed based on listener feedback on how the company could make iHeartRadio better and make radio more interactive.

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