Songza
 |
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| URL | songza.com |
|---|---|
| Slogan | Social Radio. |
| Type of site | Free Internet Radio |
| Available language(s) | English |
| Owner | Amie Street |
| Created by | Aza Raskin, Scott Robbin |
| Launched | November 8, 2007 |
| Current status | Active |
Songza is a web radio that streams music for free. Songza is different from other web radio services for two reasons: the stations on Songza are made by people (any member of the community can create a station) and Songza helps people find stations by personalizing the Songza experience based on a user's interests (simple survey questions, like Netflix) and by displaying an activity feed of what their friends are listening to (using Facebook connect). Songza's mission is "to help you find the radio station that perfectly fits your mood or whatever you're doing right now; in other words, to help you find your soundtrack." [1] Songza is headquartered in Long Island City, New York.
Unlike other streaming services, users can find stations not just based on artists, songs and genres, but based on themes, interests and eras, like "Songs In Apple Commercials," "90s One-Hit Wonders," and "Music of Fashion Week." [2]
Songza has been widely noted for its unique user interface, which incorporates many ideas that Aza Raskin had previously written about and which are generally uncommon.[3]
Amie Street acquired the company in October 2008.[4] However, in late January 2010 Songza had to put their music streaming service on hold due to problems with YouTube's API (which is what the site uses to play back songs), YouTube blocking the site from using its API, presumably because YouTube could be sued for supporting a free music service without adverts[citation needed]. In March 2010, the music streaming service was relaunched as songza.org before going back to songza.com.
Originally only searching YouTube for music, in August 2010 Songza launched a new version of the service to focus on bringing social networking to music; according to Mashable "the upcoming set of features sounds like Pandora plus every social networking trend we’ve seen over the past year or two."[5]
[edit] References
- ^ "About Us". Songza. http://songza.com/page/about/. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
- ^ "About Us". Songza. http://songza.com/page/about. Retrieved 2011-03-11.
- ^ Almaer, Dion. "Songza: Would you like a habituatable pie-menus with your social music?". ajaxian.com. http://ajaxian.com/archives/songza-would-you-like-a-habituatable-pie-menus-with-your-social-music. Retrieved 2008-08-24.
- ^ Nicole, Kristen. "Interview with Amie Street: Why Keep Acquisition of Songza a Secret?". bub.blicio.us. http://bub.blicio.us/interview-with-amie-street-why-keep-acquisition-of-songza-a-secret/. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
- ^ Schroeder, Stan. "Amazon Acquires Online Music Store Amie Street". Mashable. http://mashable.com/2010/09/08/amazon-acquires-online-music-store-amie-street/. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
- Parkins, Cameron. "Songza". Creative Commons. http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/7851. Retrieved 2008-08-24.
- Monson, Kyle (2008-08-11). "The Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites - Music". PC Magazine. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2327440,00.asp. Retrieved 2008-08-24.
[edit] External links
- Amazon.com
- American music industry
- Community websites
- Companies based in New York City
- Companies based on Long Island
- Companies established in 2007
- Domain-specific search engines
- Entertainment companies of the United States
- Entertainment websites
- Free music
- Global internet community
- Internet advertising and promotion
- Internet companies of the United States
- Internet radio in the United States
- Internet search engines
- Media companies of the United States
- Music websites
- Online music and lyrics databases
- Search engine software
- Virtual communities
- Web 2.0
- Internet properties established in 2007
