We have mentioned this earlier, online and mobile music streaming business is quite tough. Over the years, number of players (including Google & Flipkart) have tried and failed. The most recent casualty being Dhingana’s demise.
However, Times Internet backed Gaana seems to be going from strength to strength (even though we are not quite sure if they are making money).. atleast when it comes to adding new features to their app.
Gaana has updated their Android and iOS app to bring in two new features – Music videos and lyrics. Both these options are now integrated seamlessly within the application offering users a more richer music listening experience.
Pawan Agarwal, Business Head, Gaana.com said in regards to the launch, “We are delighted to launch the latest upgrade of the Gaana app. We are committed to providing our users with an immersive music experience that they love. The new version 4.0 will not only provide a complete musical experience through songs, music videos and lyrics but also has features an easy to use hassle free interface. This upgrade would certainly redefine the way people experience music on mobile devices.”
We downloaded the latest version to check out both these new features and found that most of the songs had videos and lyrics enabled for them. For few which did not have the video, the icon did not show up in the menu.
Our initial thought was that videos were essentially picked up youtube videos, but that is not the case (or atleast we could tell) as the video player was native to Gaana app on Android.
As far as the lyrics went, Gaana seems to have different screen for it. Interestingly prominent advertising was shown, thereby adding one more monetization channel for them.
The UI of Gaana 4.0 also seemed to be slightly refreshed from their earlier version. Apart from the two new features, others like Gaana Radio, Discover, Radio Mirchi, What My Friends are Listening To, etc, are all still available for all users.
we found integrating lyrics with the app an excellent addition because many users want to hum the song and know the lyrics when they are played, so this new feature will surely be liked by many.
Give the new Gaana a try, and let us know what you feel!