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Songza now cues up the blues when it rains

Songza now cues up the blues when it rains

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Songza has always been about the feels — about finding the right music to match any moment, whether it's waking up on a Sunday morning, pre-gaming in your apartment with friends, or moping over a breakup. The service even offers a "3 AM Airport" station that provides relevant jams for when you're stuck in an empty airport at 3 AM, or want to feel like you are. Today, the company is adding another factor to its recommendations engine — the weather.

Songza weather station screenshots

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By leveraging data from The Weather Channel, Songza will now recommend certain playlists and stations if it's sunny, stormy, snowy, or simply when the sun's going down. Clicking on "Thunderstorm," for example, also pops up a box that asks for your mood: are you feeling anxious, relaxed, or angry about the current storm? Within each mood exist playlists like Stormy Indie Sirens, Reign In Blood, and Bring Da Ruckus. If it's raining but still sunny out, Songza might recommend its "Singing In The Rain" playlist. Presumably, the winter flurries playlist will be filled with lots and lots of Bon Iver.

According to CEO Elias Roman, weather is just one of many factors the company hopes to take into account in helping users find music. If several users in the same area all put on Songza's workout station, the service could potentially recognize that location as a gym, Roman says. Then, when another user opens Songza in that same location, the app could make better recommendations for what to listen to. The company has positioned itself as one of the key innovators behind the "human-curated playlists" movement, but with the arrival of Beats, a music service that boasts hundreds of playlists curated by celebrities, it now finds itself in a crowded market.