An Internet radio startup debuts Tuesday in a market dominated by Pandora, Apple and other streaming services. But Mad Genius Radio wants to appeal to those who want extreme personalization — aficionados willing to pay $5 a month to hear music exactly how they want it. "Radio, when it's set up and done well, it can surprise you," said Eric Neumann, the Denver-based company's co-founder.
An Internet radio startup debuts Tuesday in a market dominated by Pandora, Apple and other streaming services.
(http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_26811020/mad-genius-touts-extreme-personal-radio)
But Mad Genius Radio doesn't plan to target everybody and their mother. It wants to appeal to those who want extreme personalization — aficionados willing to pay $5 a month to hear music exactly how they want it. With a few occasional surprises. Or maybe something completely different.
"Radio, when it's set up and done well, it can surprise you," said Eric Neumann, the Denver-based company's co-founder with a background in digital and terrestrial radio. "Pandora and the others are too predictable."
That's the genius of Mad Genius. Instead of a thumbs up or down ("Too simplistic," Neumann said), there are dozens of ways to get the exact mix you want, from rating songs to an equalizer-like slider to adjust a genre's intensity on a play list. There are also features like Time Machine, offering 460 genres — by year.
But it may not be enough, said Mark Fratrik, who tracks local media broadcast markets for consultants BIA/Kelsey.
"Not only is there a lot of competition, you still have radio. While that is different from streaming, it's the only audio option available to many consumers," Fratrik said. "While tweaking is laudable, I don't know if it's enough."
It's been an rough year for digital music. Pandora, trading Monday near its 52-week low, got dinged last week for reporting sluggish user growth. Apple, which acquired the $10-monthly music site Beats Media last spring, said it would incorporate Beats into iTunes.
Neumann isn't discouraged. The goal isn't about volume, he said, it's to get users to listen longer.
"We are getting seven hours a week consistently," he said, with top users logging about 20 hours. "We want to be the time-spent-listening leader."
The Denver company, which employs 10, has raised $2 million in seed funding. The service will offer free trials before subscription fees kick in of $5 a month or $48 a year.
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