Seeking more revenue from the blossoming world of streaming, Slacker Radio says it now has 25 million listeners and “hundreds of thousands” of subscribers to its Plus paid tier.
Now it is launching a “premium” tier. Users thus will choose among three options: free Slacker Basic Radio; Slacker Radio Plus, which is ad-free and has more features; and Slacker Premium Radio, which integrates on-demand capabilities to content like songs and albums. (The company also used the name Slacker Premium Radio in 2007 for a different rollout.)
The new tier is available on the web and via new apps for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch and certain Android and Blackberry smartphones. The user cost starts at $9.99 per month; the company is offering a free promotional subscription to the premium service on its Facebook page.
The company makes the point in its marketing that the tier is an attempt to combine the benefits of “Internet radio” and “on-demand services.” Slacker promotes the tier as “the first on-demand music service built behind a world-class, curated personal radio service, taking lean-back music discovery and combining it with access to a library of over 8 million songs.” It also boasts that it offers “a music catalog that is over ten times larger than the leading radio competitor.”
The company said its latest apps also improve its offerings in all tiers. New “station creators” allow more customization. Slacker Premium subscribers get access to a companion feature for creating song-specific playlists.
