Songza Media Inc., a streaming music startup that serves up themed playlists, has signed a deal with HSN Inc. to cross-promote its service with the shopping conglomerate’s consumers.
The deal would help Songza broaden its reach by putting the music service in front of HSN Inc.’s older, female audience. About 8 out of 10 HSN’s shoppers are women, and the average age of its online customer is 52 years old. The company owns several, lifestyle-focused shopping brands in addition to its primary HSN property. The cross-promotion involves HSN.com, which sees an estimated 12 million unique visitors a month, as well as Ballard Designs, Frontgate, Garnet Hill and others.
“Streaming music is an important part of today’s pop culture,” said Andy Sheldon, Chief Creative Officer of HSNI. “So, it’s a logical next step for us to find a way to incorporate music that targets our customers across our various brands in a way that not only relates to what we’re doing from a programming perspective but also works with whatever our customers are doing at a given time.”
Neither companies disclosed the terms of the deal, nor the length of the promotions.
Songza, which raised $3.82 million in financing in April, has seen 6 million downloads of the latest, and most popular, incarnation of its app, which features a “music concierge” service that delivers playlists based on what people are doing — relaxing classical tunes for bedtime, lounge music for a cocktail party, thumping EDM soundtracks for exercising, and so on. The company, based in New York, has not said how many people who have downloaded its app continue to be active listeners.
The agreement calls for Songza to develop playlists based on shopping HSN’s shopping themes, including a summer clothing and jewelry promotion that’s paired up with a “Soak Up The Sun” playlist that includes the Go-Go’s “Vacation” and Otis Redding’s “The Dock of the Bay.” HSN.com visitors who click on the playlist are redirected to Songza’s website to listen to the full playlist, which features an HSN display ad.