Slacker Retools, Takes On Spotify, Pandora In $5.5M Ad Campaign [VIDEO]

Online music service Slacker has revamped and launched a $5.5 million ad campaign that takes direct aim at both media darling Spotify and net radio market leader Pandora. One spot feature's "Pandora's Box" and promotes Slacker's music library as 10 times larger. Another pokes fun of Spotify's Facebook integration: "Do you really want everyone knowing what you're listening to?". 

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Founded in 2006, Slacker combines many of the features of the two competitors that it's trying to differentiate itself from including free ad supported net radio and two premium tiers.  $4 a month drops the ads, and $10 monthly provides unlimited on demand. A revamped site and mobile apps are aimed at making upgrades to premium services, as well as music discovery, easier for users. 

Digital music subscriptions are predicted to triple by 2016 to $986.9 million, up from $319.2 million last year.  But even with a $5.5 million ad campaign billing itself as "The Most Complete Music Service,, Slacker faces an uphill climb with Rhapsody, Rdio, Deezer and others also fighting for marketshare.

“We had to be very honest with where we were in the marketplace,” the company's CMO, Craig Rechenmacher who recently moved from Electronic Arts, told the New York Times . “We had to be disruptive in the marketplace, and we needed something that targets our competitors and the holes in their service.”

Slacker vs. Pandora 30 sec. spot:

Slacker vs. Spotify 30 sec. spot:

New Slacker intro video:

Tour the new Slacker: