Bop.fm is one of the startups trying to build bridges between the various streaming music services, helping people share links with friends that automatically play tracks from whatever services they have access to. Now it’s gone mobile, with the launch of its free iOS app. The app currently pulls songs from Spotify, SoundCloud and YouTube, offering users a feed of songs including new tracks, based on their listening history. The app will also provide access to playlists curated by the likes of Tiesto, Lil Wayne, Keith Urban and Depeche Mode for the service, with verified artist profiles part of its mix. The free nature of its app may give Bop.fm a shot at building a mobile audience, although it’s unclear how popular the web version is: the wider industry figure from Nielsen of 70bn songs streamed on-demand in the first six months of 2014 was given more prominence in the announcement than Bop.fm’s own figure of 50m tracks streamed since its launch a year ago. How will it make money? “Long term, it’s a data play,” its CEO tells Billboard, promising “an Echo Nest-like recommendation product” in the future.
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