I have been a big fan and vocal advocate of Songza for some time now. When I first discovered their website last year, it struck me that they had done a better job than other Internet music companies in understanding how people want to hear music. In particular, they build their playlists around activities and lifestyle, and they are curated by experts.
My skepticism has been around their business model-- their playlists have not had any audio advertisements and they have relied entirely on display ads. Given their royalty and bandwidth costs, this seems unsustainable.
This morning, I encountered a new experience while using their mobile app. Turning away from my bed to put a morning playlist on, I was confronted by an ad when I started the app. Typically I can look away and the ad disappears in a few seconds. In this case, the ad actually forced me to type a multiword string into the phone! Only after engaging and taking this action was I allowed through the app.
Another novel example of the implicit bargain of free Internet content in exchange for your advertising attention. In this case, I nearly rejected the bargain, and thought to close the app and play something from my library. Their radio offering is so great, though, that I *did* type the string. Good content always wins, it seems.
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