Radical.FM Launches A Streaming Music App That Features 22 Million Songs
August 20, 2013
Radical.FM has announced the U.S. launch of a new streaming music service for the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad. Radical.FM - Radio Re-Defined is noted for having an industry-leading 22 million titles available for streaming. Best of all, Radical.FM is entirely free and comes without ads.
Unlike other streaming services, Radical.FM doesn’t rely on computer algorithms to create radio stations. Instead, it’s up to the user to create stations by adding genres they like. The end result is a truly personalized radio listening experience.
Other highlights include:
According to Thomas McAlevey, Radical.FM CEO and founder:
- User-defined “Custom Genres” that can access 30 second previews of songs for curation. Once a Custom Genre contains 30 songs or more, it can be added to a station where the full-length song versions will be played.
- The ability to ‘Tune’ Personal Stations using intuitive sliders to adjust the values of active genres relative to one-another, and to easily add more genres at any time.
- An industry-unique feature that allows users not only to block songs or entire artists’ catalogues but to retrieve them to active rotation later via the Unblock feature.
- A wide range of interactive options for the user from a simple, intuitive lean-back experience, enabled by a few clicks to the most immersive, customizable online radio service ever offered via “Custom Genres.”
- An ‘open-source’ wiki that combines the expertise of music radio programming professionals with concrete feedback and requests of active users.
While competitors were founded by technicians or musicians who wanted to bring music into the digital era, Radical was conceived by seasoned FM radio professionals who know that humans are better than algorithms at choosing your favorite songs.For the past few weeks, I’ve been using a prerelease version of Radical.FM. Overall, I found the service to be very good. However, it does come with a few hang-ups worth noting. For one, the Radical.FM app is definitely a work in progress, especially on the iPad. Songs often take a while to start playing. When they do, they are often truncated. Plus, the clunky interface could use some improvements, especially as we’re all set to board Jony Ive’s flat design express. Additionally, while the service is free, it does come with a “Pay What You Can” feature that is somewhat intrusive. I’m not saying that artists, composers, and labels shouldn’t be compensated for their efforts. Rather, I just don’t like how Radical.FM goes about asking for money. Donation messages pop up at strange times, even in the middle of a song. Your only escape is to make a payment or restart the app. I hope that a future app update streamlines this process. Better still, only ask us for money at the start of each session. This isn’t to say that Radical.FM doesn’t have a future. We’re talking 22 million songs here, including many from artists not available through other streaming music services. These include songs from The Beatles, AC/DC, Bob Seger, among others. The best way to know if the Radical.FM app is right for you is to take it for a spin. It is available for download now in the App Store. [gallery columns="4"]
