Slacker has announced Slacker Premium Radio, which adds a third level of service to the streaming radio giant's offerings. Slacker Premium Radio brings on-demand access to the complete Slacker music library including individual songs, albums, artist radio stations and more. Now users have a choice between the free basic service, the $4.99 monthly subscription which brings more features like skipping tracks and gets rid of the ads, to the newest service which rings up at $9.99 monthly.
Also coming with the updated app is Slacker station creator. Using this, listeners have the ability create multi-artist stations, full of features to fine tune things to your liking. Slacker Premium subscribers will be able to create single artist ad free stations, but the lower tiers of service are multi-artist only.
The full list of Premium features (from the press release):
- Search, play and replay specific songs or entire albums
- Create specific playlists on mobile and on the web
- Off-line playback of stations, playlists and albums on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, Android and BlackBerry smartphones
- Replay specific songs on programmed and custom stations
- Browse and play "Favorite" songs, now collected in one location
- Unlimited song skipping
- Ad-free listening
- Complete song lyrics
- Browse Top Charts on all Slacker genre stations
- “Peek Ahead” artist, album and song preview
- Ability to skip forward and backward
And maybe the best news, a limited time, a free subscription to Slacker Premium Radio is available by visiting Slacker's Facebook page. Check out the full press release and download link after the break.
Slacker Launches Slacker Premium Radio with On-Demand Access to Music Library
Slacker First to Provide Complete Range of Services for Listeners from Free Personal Radio to On-Demand Music
SAN DIEGO – May, 17 2011 – Slacker, Inc. today launched Slacker Premium Radio, a new tier of service that provides music lovers with on-demand access to the Slacker music library including individual songs, albums, top charts, station playlists, single-artist radio stations and more. Slacker Premium takes the power, functionality and music discovery that Slacker Radio provides and combines it with the flexibility of integrated on-demand access for a new tier of service that provides the best of all worlds. Slacker Premium is available today on the web, and on new applications for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android and BlackBerry smartphones. These applications deliver new features for all listeners, including free listeners, subscribers to Slacker Radio Plus and now subscribers to Slacker Premium Radio.
With the launch of Slacker Premium Radio, Slacker becomes the first music service to deliver three complementary tiers. From the entirely free Slacker Basic Radio service, to the ad-free and feature-rich Slacker Radio Plus and now on-demand access with Slacker Premium Radio, Slacker meets the needs of all music fans. Whether listeners prefer a superior free personal radio experience or the power of a fully-loaded music subscription service, Slacker is the only offering to provide the full suite of options.
Slacker Premium Radio enables listeners to search, play and replay specific songs and entire albums from the Slacker library, which features over 8 million songs, as well as provides easy access to top songs and artists from each of the 150+ expert-programmed Slacker genre stations**. Listeners also have the ability to create specific playlists both on mobile and on the web, and even experience off-line playback through the ability to cache stations, playlists and entire albums.
A new Slacker station creator provides all listeners the ability to quickly and easily create multi-artist stations, with custom fine-tuning features for the perfect radio experience. All Slacker listeners also have the ability to create a radio experience ranging from stations based on a single artist to stations created by entering hundreds of hand-picked artists. In addition, Slacker Premium listeners can create and enjoy stations that will only play songs from a single chosen artist or band.
In addition to the ability to search the entire Slacker catalog, the new Slacker Premium Radio service gives listeners more ways to browse stations than ever before, allowing an even deeper music discovery experience. Listeners can now browse expert hand-programmed genre stations to search and play top artists, view and play top songs and albums, allowing behind the scenes access to the “Top 50” charts for every station. The Slacker Premium Radio interface also includes all-new artist pages, featuring the artist biography, all songs by the artist, discography and related artists in addition to displaying on which Slacker stations each artist is programmed, for the ultimate artist access.
“Up until this point there has been an array of ‘Internet radio’ and ‘on-demand’ services with much debate about which is better from a content, experience and technology perspective,” said Jonathan Sasse, senior vice president of marketing at Slacker. “Slacker Premium Radio provides music lovers with the best of both. We believe the combination of a world class radio service providing music discovery up front with on-demand access to any song and entire albums is the winning combo.”
Slacker Radio offers a fully customizable and personal online radio experience that includes the most varied and compelling range of content offered by any Internet radio service. The Slacker Radio experience includes over 150 expert-programmed music stations, ABC news, comedy, custom artist-hosted showcase stations and leading music festival stations along with personalized ESPN Sports content integration coming soon. With a music catalog that is over ten times larger than the leading radio competitor, Slacker Radio gives listeners the ultimate music discovery resource.
Slacker Premium Radio:
• Search, play and replay specific songs or entire albums
• Create specific playlists on mobile and on the web
• Off-line playback of stations, playlists and albums on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, Android and BlackBerry smartphones
• Replay specific songs on programmed and custom stations
• Browse and play "Favorite" songs, now collected in one location
• Unlimited song skipping
• Ad-free listening
• Complete song lyrics
• Browse Top Charts on all Slacker genre stations
• “Peek Ahead” artist, album and song preview
• Ability to skip forward and backward
Pricing and Availability
The new Slacker Premium Radio tier is available now on the web and on new applications for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch and supported Android and Blackberry smartphones. Slacker Premium Radio is available starting today for $9.99 per month at Slacker.com or billed directly to your Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA or AT&T account from within the Slacker application on Android and BlackBerry smartphones. Slacker Premium Radio includes all new features, as well as all of the features available to Slacker Basic and Slacker Radio Plus listeners.
For a limited time, a free subscription to Slacker Premium Radio is available by visiting www.Facebook.com/SlackerRadio.
