Jelli Goes Mobile, Pairs Up With Radio Stations

Jelli, a crowdsourced and social radio service, has released an iPhone app. Such news is exciting. It provides the tier of functionality that was missing from their current iteration. As a rule, just about every company has an app, but like Pandora, this addition may be a tipping point for the company. While Pandora always had a strong following, their app enabled them to reach more of the general public.

However, Jelli hasn't positioned themselves as competitors to the venerable service. While Pandora is moving to get their streams into cars and challenge commercial radio, Jelli takes a different angle. They're still very much about their web app, but are also pairing up with radio stations and creating Jelli broadcasts.

Through this, listeners gain control of stations in real-time and are able to determine what songs from the catalog get played. The result, rather than being just another Top 40 fan remix, ends up to being more unpredictable and can even lead to artists getting airtime that would've otherwise never been played on radio.

The key difference between Pandora and Jelli is that while one creates personalized streams that are determined by individual preferences, the other enables fan collaboration and a more capricious experience. On Jelli, users "rocket" and "bomb" tracks, leading to either their favorite songs getting playtime faster or their most hated tracks taking a dive down the playlist. Due to this feature, users sometimes band together and produce sets with themes, such as songs that are about animals, artists that have animals in their names, or anything that fits. Soon, Hypebot will feature an interview with the CEO of Jelli.

In the meantime, take a look at their mobile app: