NPR Music launches free app

NPR Music, renowned for original and inventive content in all genres, curates the best in music discovery for mobile audiences with the NPR Music App, available now for free in the App Store. The NPR Music App – which launched today for the iPhone and iPod touch – offers the most current live performances, interviews, signature programs and series, exclusive first listens to unreleased albums, an extensive artist directory and live station streams. The app also allows users to keep listening to NPR Music when accessing other apps and programs.

"Every day, we obsess over finding new ways to connect people to music they'll love, and to share our own passion with our audience," says Anya Grundmann, executive producer of NPR Music. "The NPR Music App is an amazing way to experience our music coverage wherever you are. Every day, we've got new surprises -- special concerts, sessions and interviews you can't get anywhere else; dozens of continuous music streams from our member stations; and chances to hear entire albums before they're released. It's an incredible resource for people who care about music as much as we do."

The NPR Music App marries editorial content and audio for iPhone and iPod touch. It goes beyond passive listening to encourage engagement and exploration, with content hand-picked by NPR Music tastemakers. The app is sorted by genre – rock/pop/folk, jazz & blues, world, classical, hip-hop/R&B – and includes a directory of programs and series, NPR Music’s entire artist directory of 5,000 bands, musicians and singers, and live music streams from more than 75 public radio stations. Once in a genre, program or artist page, users can scroll through dozens of interviews, performances and blog posts, and add stories to the app’s customizable playlist. The app also stores favorite station streams – sorted by genre – for later listening.
All of NPR Music’s programs are available in the app, such as the weekly music show and blog All Songs Considered; Song of the Day, offering a must-hear track each weekday; the eclectic interview and performance show World Cafe from WXPN in Philadelphia; and “Live at the Village Vanguard,” occasional concerts recorded at the famed New York City jazz venue. NPR Music’s popular “Exclusive First Listen” series, which offers streams of full albums before their release, is also part of the NPR Music App.
Features of the NPR Music App:
--Multi-genre music content, with stories, live concerts and interviews organized by genre.
--Live music streams from more than 75 public radio stations, hand-picked by the country’s best DJs. Browse by genre and set favorites.
--Artist directory of NPR Music content of over 5,000 bands, musicians and singers including interviews, reviews, performances, features and news.

--Top stories in each genre, with tools to share new discoveries and purchase featured music.

--Signature programs and popular series, such as “Live in Concert” from All Songs Considered, Mountain Stage, “Exclusive First Listen” and JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater. The app directs to a station stream when any given program is on-air.
--Customizable playlist that caches selected programs and stories.
--Allows background audio, allowing users to listen to a feature, stream or playlist while using other functions and applications. [Note: Users of iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and second and third generation iPod touch should download iOS4.]
The NPR Music App joins the ever-expanding repertoire of NPR Mobile offerings. Bottle Rocket Apps – developer of NPR’s successful apps for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad – also developed the Music App with the NPR Mobile team.

NPR Music App is available for free on the App Store or at www.itunes.com/appstore
NPR Music celebrates great music in every genre and is an industry leader in music discovery. The free, multimedia website at https://nprmail.npr.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.npr.org/music%20\t%20_blank offers more than 300 new features monthly and an extensive archive, in collaboration with NPR's newsmagazines, 12 public radio member stations and the passionate NPR community. NPR Music creates and distributes inventive music coverage across multiple platforms – from web, to radio, to podcast, to mobile, to social media, to live events – with first listens to new albums, live performances, concerts at the Tiny Desk, interviews, reviews and blogs.