T-Mobile kind of shocked us this evening. They didn’t just announce the Uncarrier 5.0 stuff, but they went ahead and went to Uncarrier 6.0. Which is giving us free streaming of 8 different music providers. This streaming is completely free and does not count against your data cap each month. Which is pretty awesome. T-Mobile’s Music Freedom gives you free streaming from 8 different services to start with, and you can vote on their website for even more services in the future. Rhapsody also partnered with T-Mobile for the Unradio. The Unradio is the ultimate internet radio and will be free for those with truly unlimited data plans, and $4/month for everyone else on T-Mobile. But it’s not just for T-Mobile customers, as anyone can use the Unradio for about $5/month. Pretty great deal if you ask me. We’ve got the full press release down below.
SEATTLE, WA, June 18, 2014 – With customers now spending more time streaming music than ever before, T-Mobile US, Inc. (NYSE: TMUS) today announced a set of groundbreaking initiatives designed to both un-leash music in America and put its network’s data muscle on display.
Now, T-Mobile has put an Un-carrier spin on Internet radio, working with Internet music pioneer Rhapsody. The two companies are introducing unRadio, a new music service that eliminates the biggest customer pain points associated with traditional Internet radio. Traditional Internet radio interrupts you with ads, limits skips, and chooses your music for you. But, unRadio music streaming is completely ad free, lets you skip all you want, and you can choose your music and replay your favorites any time – all from a catalog of more than 20 million songs.
Starting this Monday June 23rd, T Mobile is giving unRadio – at absolutely no extra cost – to Simple Choice customers on its newest unlimited 4G LTE data service. In addition, unRadio will be available at a discounted price of $4 per month for other T-Mobile customers.
“This new music streaming service is so unlike traditional Internet radio, there was only one possible name for it – unRadio,” said Mike Sievert, Chief Marketing Officer for T-Mobile. “We wanted to do something over the top for our customers, so we teamed up with our friends across town at Rhapsody to do what the Un-carrier does so well – turning convention on its head to benefit our customers.”
Rhapsody unRadio’s features read like a wish list for streaming music listeners:
- Ad-free listening: While traditional Internet radio interrupts you with ads, with unRadio your music streams ad-free.
- Unlimited skips: While traditional Internet radio limits you to six skips per hour, unRadio lets you skip as much as you like.
- Choose the music you want: While traditional Internet radio chooses your music for you, unRadio lets you choose your music. When you hear a song you love on unRadio, you can mark it as a favorite and automatically save it for later listening. You can stream these songs on-demand or download them to enjoy anywhere–even without a connection.
- Create your own stations (or listen to ours): Listen to hundreds of professionally-programmed stations, or create your own stations based on the songs or artists you love.
- Live streaming radio from your hometown or around the world: unRadio offers live streaming radio from thousands of terrestrial stations in the U.S., including KCRW in Los Angeles, KEXP in Seattle, and Chicago’s WXRT, among others, and from thousands of stations around the world.
- ID songs anywhere with TrackMatch: Rhapsody unRadio includes a new feature, TrackMatch, you can use to identify songs you hear while out at a bar, ballgame, party or even on TV, and create stations around these songs or save them as favorites for later listening.
“Rhapsody unRadio gives music listeners an unbeatable combination: uninterrupted music with the ability to save and listen to their favorite songs anywhere,” said Paul Springer, senior vice president for the Americas at Rhapsody. “We’re excited to partner with the Un-carrier to launch unRadio for music lovers. Together, we’ve created a better Internet radio.”
Rhapsody unRadio will be available initially for iOS and Android and on the Web. For more information about unRadio, please visit Rhapsody.com. For more information on this and other Un-carrier 5.0 and 6.0 programs, please visit the T-Mobile Newsroom.