Russian internet sensation Yandex NV (NASDAQ:YNDX) has introduced a new music streaming project known as Yandex.Radio.
The streaming service will target individuals who are interested in pre-programmed radio stations. It also aims to capture users who are looking to listen to content from online services as the need for such services continues to gain popularity.
Yandex.Radio is Yandex’s second venture into the music streaming industry. Its first service had adapted most of its attributes from streaming giant, Spotify. Its music library offered a wide selection of about 20 million songs. The service has an average of 10 million users every month.
The new service, on the other hand, has a different approach, one that is more like Pandora. It offers more than 100 radio channels that are classified according to genre, preference, mood or tasks. It takes the subscriber’s emotionsinto consideration to provide a more customized service that will offer more satisfaction to users.
Yandex NV (NASDAQ:YNDX) revealed that the service uses its algorithm to adapt to the subscriber’s listening habits. This allows it to capture the genre that a specific user prefers and thus provides more options. It resembles YouTube’s playlist algorithm in a way. Yandex also announced that the service will be available for app downloads for Android and Apple devices. The applications will feature free downloads and also feature ads in them.
Despite the good news, the company expects a tough road ahead, mainly because of the high levels of Piracy in the country. vKontakte is the most popular social network that also offers music downloads. The company will also face heavy competition from other existing legal players in the streaming market.
Despite the threatening outlook, the firm is still hopeful that its new streaming service will perform well. Its ability to offer music based on variety, genre and preference will provide an instrumental force for the service to accumulate more users. It is counting on its online radios to attract more listeners.
