In a landscape increasingly dominated by algorithm-driven playlists, Music Choice is doubling down on what it believes truly matters in music streaming: the human connection. As the company launches its new standalone mobile and TV app, available for just $0.99 per month, it aims to bring its decades-long expertise in music curation directly to consumers who have moved away from traditional cable TV.
This new app preserves the familiar experience of Music Choice’s curated channels and introduces additional features like artist discovery hubs and specialized services, all designed to meet the evolving needs of modern listeners.
In our exclusive interview with Music Choice, the company shares insights into the motivations behind this launch and how it aligns with its broader strategy.
They discuss the importance of maintaining a human touch in music programming—a philosophy that has kept Music Choice relevant for over three decades. By leveraging years of listener data and a deep understanding of how people use music daily, Music Choice has crafted an app that offers more than just background music. It’s a service designed to enhance every moment, whether you’re winding down after a long day or looking for the perfect playlist to set the mood.
You can find the iOS app here, GooglePlay here, and more on the Smart TV apps here
Can you tell us about the motivation behind launching the standalone mobile and TV app for Music Choice?
Music Choice has been a loved service for over 3 decades in consumer’s homes. We are the music service that has been a part of people’s lives and over the years and as consumers have separated their subscriptions from a traditional “cable tv” package, we regularly heard that the channels they missed the most after disconnecting from cable was Music Choice.
Launching a standalone TV app so all customers, accessible for both current cable and non-cable customers, was naturally the next evolution for Music Choice to keep our music channels accessible to anyone looking to consume their favorite music. The app offering on both TV and mobile is built to appeal to customers that know and love our channels but evolved to attract new listeners by also including hundreds of playlists, artist discovery hubs and specialty add on services such as Karaoke and Relax, our ambient audio video service.
How does the $0.99/month pricing model align with Music Choice’s overall strategy?
The new $0.99 monthly plan offers a low-barrier entry point for those who want to explore or rediscover Music Choice’s extensive library of channels and content without a cable subscription. This aligns with our strategy of expanding our reach and attracting a wider audience to the benefits of our service.
Could you elaborate on the variety of music channels available through the new app?
With over 150 channels and close to 1,000 playlists in the app and growing, Music Choice offers music to delight all audiences, at any time of the day, for any occasion.
As part of this, we offer channels that cut across all genres of music, from oldies to contemporary pop, from easy listening to Hip-hop, and of course everything in between. Some of these channels include Adult Alternative, Coffee Shop Cuts, Hard Rock, Smooth Jazz, Yacht Rock, and many, many more. In fact, we recently conducted a survey to gauge listener habits and interests and learned that our users consistently gravitate towards our ambient and instrumental channels to support a mood-shift.
The melodic instrumental of Easy Listening, and new age & atmospheric tunes of the Soundscapes channel rise to the top of our channel rankings.
What insights have you gained about at-home listening habits over the years, and how have they influenced the new app?
Music Choice has always been a TV service with a co-listening/viewing audience that turns to us for a wide range of needs – from getting ready in the morning and winding down before bed, to family dinners and holiday get together.
The app makes it easier for audiences to switch between their favorite music channels or discover something new. Because of Music Choice’s longevity, we are armed with decades of insights on the individuals who listen to our channels and more recently, playlists, which has allowed us to continue to curate this app based largely off the listening habits of our audience.
This is one reason we find our offering to be as strong as it is, and why listeners continue to stick with us. We hope that this app will make our offering more accessible to listeners from all walks of life, with and without a cable subscription, and will allow us to show others the result of years of insights from music fans just like themselves.
How has Music Choice’s long history in the industry informed its current strategies and offerings?
Music Choice has evolved as a leader in anticipation of music trend changes and technological firsts. The company has countless patents from its on-screen look and feel to varying offerings of personalized music. At the helm of the company, Music Choice’s management team is always looking for ways to improve consumer experiences through technological advances, while always making sure to retain a high level of human involvement in the song selection process.
Can you discuss the importance of the human touch in music programming in an increasingly digital world?
Music Choice nicely bridges this area with its programming philosophy. Channels are curated and managed by music experts who take great care and effort to understand the listener and curate the soundtrack to their day to day lives. As music services begin to rely more and more on technology, we at Music Choice believe that the human touch is incredibly important in creating the best possible listening experience for users.
Although technology can be immensely helpful in simply pushing music out, the addition of a human element can elevate a playlist from listenable to a must-listen. When a playlist becomes overly reliant on algorithms and AI technology, it can end up being redundant and repetitive, and may not be able to identify newly breaking trends and themes.
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