With CDs phasing out and cassette tapes remaining a faded memory, people prefer the convenience of streaming digital music directly to their computers and mobile devices.
Music apps have been around for many years, providing users with a steady stream of music straight to their smartphone or laptop computer. And apps like Pandora Radio, Last.fm, Rhapsody, Maestro, and Spotify all offer slightly different features to the listener.
However, not all music apps are designed just to stream music.
People love to share music with friends
When you hear a good song, you want to share it with others. Streaming music apps are great for listening to your favorite music, but they fall short when it comes to being able to easily share music with your friends.
Although music apps have share buttons, the apps themselves are not always available in every country. For example, Pandora Radio is only available to users in the USA, New Zealand, and Australia. Spotify and YouTube also have a limited international reach with certain country-based restrictions. Nothing is more frustrating than clicking on a link and being told you can’t access the content because of where you live.
The solution to this problem is being solved by an Israeli startup through an app that allows you to stream music and share it easily with anyone in the world.
Meet the newest music app on the block—Mr. Radio
Whenever a new music app enters the market, there’s always a unique feature that draws in the crowd. Mr. Radio, created by parent company Music Messenger, brings more than just a new feature to the table—it eliminates the barrier of international distribution restrictions by sharing music through messaging.
Dubbed the “What’s App of song sharing,” Mr. Radio offers the ability to ping music back and forth with your friends through an in-app message. Rather than sending your friends an email or making a post on Facebook about a song you like, Mr. Radio lets you ping that song directly to others so they can just click and listen.
And with a customer base approaching 2 million users, Mr. Radio is giving Spotify a run for its money.
Celebrity funding is a promising sign
Mr. Radio is backed by some heavy hitters in the music industry like will.i.am, Nicki Minaj, David Guetta, Dave Holmes, Tiesto, and Gee Roberson.
Free for life without ads
Music Messenger is promising the app will be completely free for life with no banner ads and no in-app purchases. And because it’s technically a messaging app (not a music service subject to ASCAP regulations), this app stands a great chance of living up to its promise.
Why traditional streaming music isn’t free
Every time you listen to a song on Spotify or other streaming music apps, they have to pay the music label a royalty so the artist can get paid.
Since 2009, Spotify has paid out over $1 billion to rights holders, which, at the time was about 70 percent of its total revenue. These rights holders are the music labels and publishers that pay their artists a portion of the royalties they have received based on their contract.
Although the artist only receives pennies each time their song is streamed, the cumulative amount owed to all rights holders adds up quickly for the company paying out. To offset this expense, companies usually charge a small fee to the user for a premium, ad-free experience, or recover their costs through advertising displayed on free accounts.
Mr. Radio is different
Because Mr. Radio is a messaging tool and not a music service, they’re not subject to the regulations set by ASCAP. None of the content they offer is hosted on their own servers—they’re simply leveraging existing content by delivering it in a way that makes sharing music easy.
If you’re tired of not being able to share music with your international friends, or if you just want to share music with a simple click, this app may turn out to be the solution you’ve been looking for. Why not give it a shot—it’s free!
