Pandora to provide customised music station in BWS stores

Internet radio service, Pandora, has partnered with Australian liquor retailer, BWS, to bring a customised music platform into its stores nationally.

In what it claims is its first entry into the Australian retail market, Pandora will stream curated music stations for each participating BWS store based on what consumers are listening to already across postcodes surrounding each location. Pandora’s customers will also be able to stream the branded BWS radio stations outside of the store.

The offering is based on the company’s ‘Music Genome Project’, which it describes as a detailed musical taxonomy that uses music ‘DNA’ to personalise what its listeners then listen to.

According to Pandora, each song is analysed using up to 450 distinct musical characteristics by a trained music analyst, rather through machine learning or automated data methods. The Music Genome Project’s database uses precisely defined terminology, redundant analysis, and ongoing quality control measures to ensure that data integrity remains reliably high, the company said.

The BWS service will be provided in partnership with in-store solutions agency, Mood Media. BWS head of marketing, Kristen Linders, said the brand was thrilled to be partnering with Pandora for an Australian retail first.

“At BWS, we aim to make our customers' in-store experience special every time they shop with us,” she said. “Through our partnership with Pandora, customers can enjoy a curated music experience based on the listening habits of the local community."

Pandora’s local business development director, Rick Gleave, said the collaboration gave the music business an opportunity to reach a wider audience while helping provide personalised services to BWS customers.

Not to be outdone by news of the Pandora/BWS partnership, white label digital music provider, Tuned Global, said brands are missing a trick by not using digital music as a key part of their content marketing strategy.

Tuned Global pointed to Spotify’s Music Streaming Brand Impact Study released in January, which found 61 per cent of music streamers were more likely to recommend those brands to a friend, while they were twice as likely to be stronger brand advocates and emotionally connected to the brand.

According to Nielsen’s 2014 Music Report, 67 per cent of music consumers now listen to music online.

Tuned Global’s managing director, Con Raso, claimed music can better connect customers to brands as well as building loyalty.

“People love music; it evokes peoples’ feelings, triggers their memories and is universal. Brands can take advantage of this fact by offering the music that their customers want. They’ll benefit from a strong emotional connection and long-term relationship with a loyal community,” he said.

“Digital music should absolutely be a key component in brands’ customer engagement strategies. Marketers who do not recognise that music has a major part to play in their content marketing ecosystems are, in my opinion missing the opportunity to make a quantifiable and effective impact on their business.”

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