Marking its second
music-centric deal this week, AOL on Tuesday said it plans to relaunch AOL Radio with multitiered music subscription service Slacker Radio.
AOL Radio -- officially part of AOL Huffington
Post Media Group's AOL Music unit -- boasts about 350 Web radio stations. It is currently powered by CBS.
With Slacker, AOL hopes to bolster its radio offerings for users by serving fewer ads,
while offering up new personalization features and premium subscription offerings.
"By combining AOL Radio's reach with the success of Slacker in mobile, we are increasing the distribution of
our brands," explained Lisa Namerow, head of AOL Radio.
Slacker, meanwhile, gets to deliver its radio offerings to a larger audience and develop new ad-supported and paid services with AOL.
"Aligning our strengths will enable us to expand our reach," said Jim Cady, CEO of Slacker.
Slacker distinguishes itself with three specific listening experiences. As such, AOL Radio
users will soon be able to choose from free, ad-supported streaming radio; ad-free, paid streaming radio; or an on-demand, premium option.
Upon the launch of the new AOL Radio player, Slacker
will lead advertising sales within the player, while letting AOL package a portion of the inventory for premium AOL Music integrated sponsorships.
The new AOL Radio and its iPhone App -- which
has been downloaded more than 3 million times -- are expected to relaunch in late summer.
Separately, AOL announced plans to partner with Vevo for its live music series, Sessions +1, making
that programming available across all Vevo platforms.