iHeartRadio Launches Beta Versions Of New On-Demand Music Plans

Some time earlier this year, iHeartRadio had revealed its plans of offering new paid subscription services for on-demand music. Well, the web radio platform has made good on its promise, launching beta versions of its latest music plans. The cheapest plan is called iHeartRadio Plus and it is priced at $4.99 a month. With this plan, subscribers can choose to listen to the radio as usual, but if they hear a particular tune they like, they are now given the opportunity to replay that song instantly. If they really dig that track, then they can proceed to saving that song to their own custom stations, which can be accessed by way of a new section in the mobile app for My Music, plus they can enjoy unlimited song skips on the tracks they saved. 

Despite catering to listeners in the mobile age, iHeartRadio always remembers its traditional radio roots, and one can argue that even now, its app is basically just a way for people to listen to the radio but through a computer or mobile device. But as pointed out by Darren Davis, the president of iHeartRadio, the difference is that listeners are given more freedom to enjoy the music they love through personalized radio stations and instant replay. 

Davis also shared that despite the increasing popularity of music streaming service providers like Spotify and Apple Music, audiophiles of today actually still listen to music and even discover new tracks through the radio. iHeartRadio Plus is clearly an effort to close the gap between song discovery via radio and the latest technology in delivering consumer music. But of course, if the user wants to discover new music via iHeartRadio directly, they can do so too by searching and playing tracks from the service’s expansive library containing millions of songs.

Davis is also targeting the big majority of music lovers in the United States that are not currently subscribing to any paid music service. One of the new music plans is iHeartRadio All Access, which for $9.99 a month delivers all the features present in iHeartRadio Plus, as well as the ability to listen to tracks even if offline, and the ability to make playlists from songs from the library. Interesting, iHeartRadio All Access is offered in collaboration with Napster, hence the “powered by Napster” phrase seen in the branding.

For now, the music plans are in beta, but according to Davis, the final versions should go live by January of next year.