Stereomood Relaunches Mood-Based Music Streaming Service

Italian startup Stereomood takes
a unique approach to music streaming, offering curated playlists of independent music sourced from music
blogs and then organized by the user’s mood. The only “music-by-mood” streaming service that solely features
music from independent artists and labels, the team has just launched a completely
revised version of its existing web platform with a range of new functions and
social features.

Stereomood
offers a completely free and refreshing alternative to the plethora of music streaming
options available, providing content aggregated from 150+ music blogs and sites.
These are then hand-curated by staff and community members into mood-specific
playlists, which are tagged with appropriately fitting mood titles such as Relax,
Beach Party, Night Drive, and many more. The result is a satisfying lean-back
music experience that puts listeners in touch with music that they’ve likely
never heard before from new and independent artists.

“Our
original vision for Stereomood was to create a place for lovers of independent
music to find new sounds in a more experiential way, above and beyond searching
by genre,” said Stereomood CEO Daniele Novaga. “For us, the best music drives
your emotions, and what better way to discover music than by the way it makes
you feel?”

Some
of the new features that have been added to the new web platform include artist
bios with concert listings (powered by Songkick), social sharing of
mood-playlists (through Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest), song lyrics, and a redeveloped
mood search engine where users are able to search by mood to find the perfect
playlist through a dedicated search bar labeled “I feel…”

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“We
love to give independent artists an opportunity to get their sounds out there,
and our new social features should make the word of mouth effect amongst
existing and prospective Stereomood users that much more powerful,” added
Novaga.

Also
new are editorial boxes across the homepage that include news, blog links, site
tips and contests. The site also went through some much-needed cosmetic
upgrades that include numerous stylistic features. Community members are also able to submit
their own music to the service and share their customized lists with fellow
users. The staff checks these submissions to ensure that they are of particular
quality standards and if they fit a particular playlist and/or mood.

After
playing around with the service for a few days, I found the mood-based
playlists to be rather reliable. Each song delivered on the playlist's promise of providing an appropriate soundtrack to how I was feeling, while virtually every song I heard was brand new to my ears.

Four
former MTV Italy staff members founded Stereomood back in 2008, which started
off as an experiment in how to arrange, listen to and discover new, independent
music. The service now attracts over one million unique users per month.

Stereomood
is available as a desktop version and in mobile app format for iOS and Android devices.