Google Acquires Songza

Last month Google bought the streaming company Songza. Songza is a streaming service that creates playlists using a combination of automation and curation from key music industry figures.

Songza, in a similar fashion to Beats Music, allows users to find a playlist instantly by inputting metrics like activities, mood, and genre. The playlists are personalized to the time of day you’re using their streaming service, what activity it thinks you might be doing, and even your local weather. There are hundreds of amusingly specific playlists with titles like “Rustic Outdoor Wedding,” “Your Own Wes Anderson Film,” and “Pole Dancing Rock.”

Songza will continue doing business as usual, however it’s not difficult to see how Songza’s playlists could be an asset to Google’s soon-coming Youtube streaming service.

The news is remarkably similar to Apple’s acquisition of Beats Music earlier this year and marks another notable point in what’s developing as a race towards streaming dominance.

The technology of Songza also seems to fit in with Google’s ongoing development of technology that adapts intuitively to users.

The expansion of these services suggest a greater dominance of the low quality MP3 format, which produces more mixes favoring high ranges and less textured bass. It also increases the demand for mastering for digital distribution rather than the Red Book standard.

RCA Music Group President Tom Corson says, “Serving more targeted content that’s curated and customized is better for the user. It’s about discovery - people need to be guided, and if it’s managed the right way, [a streaming service] is going to build trust.”