• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, July 11, 2011

Just a few months after acquiring Thumbplay, Clear Channel Radio said it is planning to unveil its integration with iHeartRadio -- which is intended to compete with burgeoning online rivals like Pandora -- in late September. To promote the new-and-improved version of iHeartRadio, Clear Channel also revealed plans for a two-day iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas on September 23-24, billed as the biggest live concert event in radio history.

Indeed, the lineup for the festival, which will be hosted by Ryan Seacrest at the MGM Grand, features starts of the contemporary music, including Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Alicia Keys, Steven Tyler, The Black Eyed Peas, Kenny Chesney, John Mayer, Jennifer Lopez, Usher, Sting, Carrie Underwood, Jane's Addiction, Nicki Minaj, Bruno Mars, and Kelly Clarkson.

Clear Channel is promoting the iHeartRadio Music Festival with teasers and announcements on all 850 of its stations and "roadblock" ads on station Web sites and iHeartRadio, which it claims have reached 100 million people over the last week.

Most stations are promoting the festival with exclusive artist interviews and ticket giveaways; Clear Channel is also planning a contest which will give away "dream trips" to hundreds of fans to attend the Vegas bash.

Fans who can't make it to Vegas can tune in to live audio and video streams of the festival online as well as via mobile devices by visiting www.iHeartRadio.com or any Clear Channel radio station Web site.

The Thumbplay integration is intended to position iHeartRadio as a free alternative to Pandora by offering music on demand, custom stations, and new listening suggestions based on their preferences -- in addition, of course, to access to digital streaming from its 750 broadcast stations and a variety of digital-only music, talk and comedy stations, which Clear Channel says will be commercial-free until the end of the year.

The new iHeartRadio platform will allow listeners to create their own personalized radio stations using Thumbplay's "Playlist Genie" and "Favorites" functions. Clear Channel said the Thumbplay acquisition will also allow it to deploy a variety of subscription services across a number of digital platforms, including the Internet, automotive and mobile devices.

Currently, iHeartRadio boasts 27 million unique Web site visitors and 45 million hours of listening per month, and has logged 30 million downloads of its mobile application. On the mobile front, it may be significant that Thumbplay includes an auto-sync feature for mobile devices, plus options for importing music from iTunes and an offline mode for listening on subways, planes or other situations without mobile Internet connectivity.