iHeartMedia, the creator of iHeartRadio, announced today the launch of two new subscription services — iHeartRadio Plus and iHeartRadio All Access — set to debut in January 2017.
We’re now making it easier than ever for iHeartRadio users to think of music discovery and collecting in a brand new and easy-to-use way,” said Darren Davis, President of iHeartRadio in a statement. “For the first time ever, when listeners hear a new or favorite song on the radio they can instantly replay a song and even save it directly to a playlist. We are reimagining radio — with the new technologies and offerings powered by our on-demand options, music discovery, music collecting and the power of community and companionship fostered by live radio and influential and trusted personalities. iHeartRadio is now combining it all for the first time; there’s no other digital music service that can do this.”
The two new iHeartRadio services are iHeartRadio Plus, which will be focused on the enhanced radio experience, and iHeartRadio All Access, which will go beyond iHeartRadio Plus to include a full on demand music collection experience – but one still tied directly to radio, according to iHeartMedia.
iHeartRadio has reached license agreements with Warner Music Group, Sony Music Group and Universal Music Group, and in addition has signed agreements with independent record labels and distributors including The Orchard, Entertainment One, INgrooves, DashGo, Naxos and CD Baby.
MacDailyNews Take: We’ll stick with Apple Music, thanks. That’s where new music goes first, often exclusively. And it’s all “on-demand.” With Apple Music and Spotify duking it out, it’s tough to see room for yet another music subscription service.
Never saw this coming. Nope. Totally blindsided.
Everybody in tech wants to collect rent and nobody wants to sell you anything. All this shit started and I dot remember customers clamoring to rent software, music and all the rest.
Lay the blame on Microsoft and Adobe. The whole trend pisses me off. I do not want free apps with in-app purchases designed to mine my wallet.
I’m with you on that, DavGreg. I have a good-sized (not huge) CD collection, mostly loaded into my iTunes Library now, and tend to purchase albums and (rarely) tracks in the iTunes Store.
That and iTunes playing KCSM’s Radio feed keeps me happy.
Isn’t iHeart owned by the company that ruined FM radio years ago, Clear Channel?
No a reason to blackball them here, but most cities had decent FM music stations until Clear Channel bought them up and replaced the DJs with computer playlists.
Yes to all of the above, but in some countries with limited radio choices stations such as iHeart are a blessing. I live in regional NSW in Australia and the radio scene here is like something akin to the dark ages. The so called choice is limited to religious station, a Top 40 station, a youth station and a news station and that’s it. So when I came across Punk Taco (a part of iHeart radio) I found it to be a decent alternative to what is available where I live.
Just remember not everyone lives in big cities and likewise not everyone lives in a country with over 300 million people where there is a huge amount of diversity. People choose to live in other areas for a number of reasons. We chose our part of the woods because of the more relaxed lifestyle, (much) lower house prices and lower crime rates. Will I be paying for this extra service, absolutely not! But at the same time we don’t have a lot of choice in radio stations (either streamed or otherwise) and iHeart radio does give me a greater choice and access to bands whereupon I go out and buy their music via iTunes.