8tracks Debuts Xbox App, Comscore Reveals Larger Audience Than Songza, Rdio In U.S.
8tracks is making news with its announcement of an Xbox app and various reveals regarding its bigger than expected audience size and place in the market. Xbox Live Gold members will have access to the app which may help grow their already strong youth market. Comscore figures reveal that 8tracks is outperforming services like Songza, Rdio and Mixcloud in the U.S. In addition, 8tracks revealed that they now have 8 million monthly active users.
VentureBeat's Tom Cheredar sums up the news. 8tracks is profitable and has:
"8 million active users per month"
"that listen to about 30 million hours a month"
"half of which are in the 18-to-24 age demographic coveted by advertisers"
Plus they have a new Xbox Live App.
In an email exchange with Hypebot's Bruce Houghton, 8tracks founder David Porter revealed more:
"we think the Xbox is a particularly good fit for 8tracks: it's the most popular set-top box in the US (48m vs 13m for Apple TV and 5m for Roku), and 31% of all US college students own an Xbox, a perfect match as 1/2 our listeners are aged 18-24 (while the 5 existing music services on Xbox attract an older demo)."
Referring to Comscore data for January 2014 (click below for larger view), Porter also pointed out that 8tracks' U.S. audience is larger than that of Jango, Songza, Rdio, Mixcloud and Deezer.
While that leaves them behind Bandcamp and SiriusXM in the States and way behind Pandora and Spotify, they do have a solid looking spot from which to continue to grow.
If 8tracks does grow, it will be based in part on its status as "internet radio created by people, not algorithms" long before Beats Music discovered playlists.
Handcrafted mixtapes must have at least 8 tracks, thus the nostalgia-inducing name, and the ones I've checked out have a personal feel. Of course, I have no idea what most of their 1.4 million public playlists are like.
Porter revealed that the company itself is growing with new hires in engineering, marketing and ad sales. They also recently closed their first direct ad sale to Victoria's Secret.
New iOS and Android apps are due in April.
More:
- 8tracks Launches Revamped Streaming Player For iOS
- 8tracks.com – Digital Answer To Lost Art Of Mixtapes
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (Twitter/Facebook) is currently relaunching All World Dance. To suggest topics about music tech, DIY music biz or music marketing for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
Thanks for the coverage Clyde!
Glad to.
Sorry about the delay. I have to take credit for that!
Sick! I love 8tracks!