Songza

Playlists for the moment you were in, picked by people rather than an algorithm, until Google bought it and melted it into Play Music

Acquired & killed
19902026

Songza was a free music streaming service from New York whose Concierge feature asked what you were doing, from waking up to a dinner party, and offered hand-made playlists for it. The brand dated from a 2007 music search site, but the Songza people remember launched with the Concierge in September 2011 and reached about 5.5 million users. Google bought it in July 2014 and closed it on 31 January 2016, moving the idea into Google Play Music.

Timeline [edit]

  1. 2007
  2. November 2007 Launch
    The original Songza music search goes live

    Built by Aza Raskin and Scott Robbin.

  3. 2008
  4. August 2008 Acquisition
    Amie Street buys Songza
  5. 2011
  6. September 2011 Launch
    Songza relaunches with the Concierge

    Playlists picked for the time of day and what you are doing.

  7. 2014
  8. March 2014 Peak
    About 5.5 million users
  9. 1 July 2014 Acquisition
    Google buys Songza
  10. 2015
  11. 21 October 2015 Feature
    The Concierge appears inside Google Play Music
  12. 2016
  13. 31 January 2016 Shutdown
    Songza closes

The site through time

Read the old front page here, in one piece, from our own capture: songza.com, 1 June 2013 →

Browse songza.com as it was, via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine:

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Full archive →

Ownership [edit]

Amie Street, Inc. 2008–2014 Founded Bought the 2007 Songza site, later renamed the company Songza Media
Google 2014–2016 Acquisition, $39M Reported at $39 million

Key figures [edit]

MetricValueAs ofConfidence
Registered accounts ▲ 5.5 million March 2014 Reported Figure reported at the time of the Google deal

Confirmed official figures · Reported media, cites a source · Estimated analyst or our estimate

Why it shut down [edit]

Official line: Google bought Songza on 1 July 2014 for a reported $39 million. Its Concierge, the grid that asked what you were doing and offered playlists for it, was rebuilt inside Google Play Music in October 2015, and the Songza apps and site were closed on 31 January 2016.

Our analysis: Songza was a very good idea attached to a business that could not stand on its own. The Concierge was genuinely better than a search box: it asked what time of day it was and what you were doing, and its playlists were made by DJs and music writers, so they had a taste the algorithms of the time did not. But it had no subscription, lived on advertising, and paid the same licensing bills as everyone else. Google wanted the curation team and the idea; once those were inside Play Music there was no reason to keep a second app, and Play Music itself was later folded into YouTube Music.

History [edit]

What are you doing right now?

Songza began life in 2007 as a search-and-play music site built by Aza Raskin and Scott Robbin, and was bought in 2008 by Amie Street, a New York company that sold music at prices that rose with demand. Amie Street closed its store in 2010 and put everything into the Songza name, and in September 2011 it relaunched with the thing that made it famous: the Concierge.

Instead of a search box, the app opened with a grid for the time of day. Tuesday afternoon at work? Here are six activities: focus, energy boost, unwind, a coffee break. Pick one and you get three playlists, each assembled by a human curator, many of them DJs and former music journalists. It was free, with occasional adverts, and it felt like a friend with good taste choosing for you. By 2014 it had around 5.5 million users and was being copied by everyone, including Spotify, which added mood playlists of its own.

Bought for the idea

On 1 July 2014 Google announced it had bought Songza. The price was not disclosed; the New York Post reported $39 million. The service kept running for a while, then in October 2015 Google Play Music gained a redesigned home screen built on Songza curation, the Concierge in all but name.

Google told users in December 2015 that the standalone apps would close, and on 31 January 2016 Songza was switched off with a pointer to Play Music. Play Music itself closed in 2020, so the playlists made for a Songza Sunday morning have now moved house twice.

The domain today

songza.com redirects to YouTube Music. The activity grid it invented is now the default front page of most streaming services.

Similar projects

Grooveshark All the music, none of the licences 2007–2015 Google Play Music Your music locker, repossessed 2011–2020 Rdio The prettiest streaming service that ever lost 2010–2015 Google Podcasts Google's plain podcast app, six years old when it was folded into YouTube Music 2018–2024 Groove Music Microsoft's music service after Zune, renamed twice and handed to Spotify 2012–2017 Beats Music Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine's curated streaming service, bought by Apple after four months and folded into Apple Music 2014–2015

Sources [edit]

  1. Google acquires Songza TechCrunch 1 July 2014
  2. Google buys Songza for $39M New York Post 1 July 2014
  3. Songza is shutting down on January 31st The Verge 30 January 2016
  4. Songza Wikipedia 1 January 2024 [archived]
  5. Google Play Music gets Songza-style curation The Verge 21 October 2015

Last verified: 22 August 2026. Spotted an error? Suggest an edit (corrections with sources are reviewed and applied).