Psonar, the pay-as-you-go music streaming service, made its consumer media début in BBC Top of the Pops Magazine. Named after the legendary television show that stopped in 2006, TOTP Mag continues as the top teen magazine in the UK with a circulation of over 70,000.
TOTP is a excellent media partner for Psonar, which hopes to become popular with teens who are often shut out from subscription streaming services by the high cost and need to have a credit card.
TOTP readers were treated to a free 50 song playlist which they could access by downloading the Psonar app and inserting a redemption code as part of the sign-up process. Once the playlist was redeemed, all 50 tracks were free to stream at any time with no expiry.
As a subscription-free, pay-as-you-go service, Psonar is ideal for younger people who want access to high quality streaming but can’t commit the typical £10 per month most subscription streaming services require.
TOTP readers were treated to tracks from top artists including The Vamps, Jessie J, Taylor Swift, Jay Z, and The Wanted. Other artists on the list were Carly Rae Jepson, Mumford & Sons, Bastille, and even K-Pop sensation Psy.
The reader offer was given a full page inside the magazine. Readers were also alerted to the offer on the front cover, in the table of contents, and with flashes on various other pages.
TOTP also provided a box explaining the new service to readers who would be unfamiliar with the pay-as-you-go concept for music streaming.
Although well known among experts in the music streaming industry, this was Psonar’s first appearance in the consumer media, and the first attempt to attract users on a mass scale.
Imp Communications had been tasked with finding ways to drive downloads of the Android, Blackberry, and iOS apps among the target customer base. Securing a reader offer with TOTP was, as Head Imp Ned Vaught put it, ‘a home run.’