After months of speculation, Google has officially acquired Songza, the music streaming service that uses information about the user to connect them with curated playlists. It’s a bold move by Google, one that puts them squarely into not only the music space, but the data space; Sonza collects mountains of data about what types of music people listen to based on the time of day so that they can accurately serve them the right playlists at the right time. For a company like Google, whose stated purpose is to seamlessly integrate technology into people’s lives, Songza makes perfect sense as an acquisition, and it’s not unreasonable to foresee playlist integration into Google Now – for instance, “I see your flight is delayed, let me pull up a playlist to calm you down.” – and across Google’s many platforms more broadly.
Tag: Songza
Songza Recommends Music Based On Weather
Music streaming service, Songza has partnered with Weather Channel to offer music recommendations tailored to local weather conditions. Advertisers have been using weather data to affect marketing budgets for some time, realizing it’s powerful impact on sales. For Songza, weather plays as much a role in mood as music, so it makes sense to incorporate that data when making music suggestions. As we continue to glean more insights from big data, look for even more sophisticated algorithms which will anticipate what media we want before we even know it.
Chromecast Now Supports Vevo, Songza, Others
Google’s Chromecast over-the-top smart TV solution has been gaining popularity since its release, but the limited stable of apps from familiar online content providers has been preventing a mass user-base from developing. Today Google announced the device’s support for 10 new third-party apps from companies like Vevo, Songza, and Plex. Plex is especially interesting, as it is quite popular with home theater enthusiasts, and thus could bring the Chromecast into more critical media serving applications. Be on the lookout for more Chromecast apps in coming months from similar vendors, because this is certainly not the last drop of apps for the device.
