Songza

Songza

Company type	Private
Industry	Music streaming
Founded	2007 (2007)
Founder	Aza Raskin, Scott Robbin
Fate	Acquired by Google; merged into Google Play Music; service discontinued
Headquarters	Long Island City, Queens, New York City , United States
Area served	United States, Canada
Products	Music streaming, curated playlists, music recommendation platform
Number of employees	25 (professional music curators as of 2011) (2011)
Parent	Google (from July 1, 2014)

Songza was a complimentary music streaming and recommendation platform available in both the United States and Canada. Established by Aza Raskin and Scott Robbin, the service concentrated on expertly curated playlists designed to match users' moods, activities, and times of day, thereby increasing engagement through customized suggestions.

The company’s revenue approach centered on providing playlists suited to diverse scenarios such as waking up, exercising, commuting, focusing, relaxing, socializing, and sleeping. User interaction shaped Songza's recommendation system by allowing listeners to vote songs up or down, helping the platform tailor itself to individual tastes. Beyond conventional genres, the playlists included thematic compilations like "90s One-Hit Wonders" and event-specific selections such as "Music of Fashion Week," distinguishing Songza within the competitive music streaming market.

Based in Long Island City, Queens, New York City, Songza established a strong presence by combining expert curation with active user participation. This strategic positioning led to its acquisition by Google on July 1, 2014. Subsequently, Songza’s features were incorporated into Google Play Music by January 31, 2016, before eventually being redirected to YouTube Music as of September 24, 2021. This shift marked the conclusion of Songza as an independent service but underscored its influence on Google's broader streaming offerings.

History

In October 2008, Amie Street acquired Songza, originally created by Aza Raskin and Scott Robbin. Amie Street itself was sold to Amazon in August 2010 for an undisclosed sum. Following this transaction, Songza’s co-founders—CEO Elias Roman, COO Peter Asbill, CPO Elliott Breece, and CCO Eric Davich—redirected their focus toward Songza by shutting down the initial version and launching a revamped alpha iteration under the same name.

Throughout the following year, the team experimented with multiple versions. The first app released in 2010 featured Social Radio functionality that enabled users to DJ for friends; however, it struggled with lack of differentiation and subpar playlist quality. After thorough refinement and testing, Songza reintroduced its beta version for iPhone and Android on September 13, 2011, supported by a dedicated group of 25 professional music curators.

March 2012 saw the debut of Songza’s Music Concierge on iPhone and web platforms, which delivered personalized playlists based on mood and time of day. This feature was extended to iPad in June 2012 and rapidly gained popularity with over 1.15 million downloads within ten days. By June 12, 2012, Songza ranked as the top free app on iPad and second on iPhone. The Concierge service launched on Android phones in July 2012 and Android tablets in August 2012. On August 7, 2012, Songza expanded into Canada where it quickly became the leading free app and reached one million downloads within just 70 days.

Beginning in October 2013, Songza introduced pop-up audio and video advertisements at playlist start, ending its previous audio-ad-free experience. By year-end 2013, the platform reported a user base of 5.5 million active listeners.

Google acquired Songza on July 1, 2014, for an estimated $15–39 million. Both companies expressed positive sentiments regarding the deal. By October 2014, Google Play Music All Access integrated Songza’s Concierge feature.

On January 31, 2016, Songza was fully merged into Google Play Music, which itself ceased operations on December 1, 2020. Since September 24, 2021, visiting Songza’s website redirects users to YouTube Music—Google’s successor streaming service.