Stereomood Relaunches Mood-Based Music Streaming Service

Italian startup Stereomood takes a unique approach to music streaming, offering curated playlists of independent music sourced from music blogs and then organized by the user’s mood. The only “music-by-mood” streaming service that solely features music from independent artists and labels, the team has just launched a completely revised version of its existing web platform with a range of new functions and social features.

Stereomood offers a completely free and refreshing alternative to the plethora of music streaming options available, providing content aggregated from 150+ music blogs and sites. These are then hand-curated by staff and community members into mood-specific playlists, which are tagged with appropriately fitting mood titles such as Relax, Beach Party, Night Drive, and many more. The result is a satisfying lean-back music experience that puts listeners in touch with music that they’ve likely never heard before from new and independent artists.

“Our original vision for Stereomood was to create a place for lovers of independent music to find new sounds in a more experiential way, above and beyond searching by genre,” said Stereomood CEO Daniele Novaga. “For us, the best music drives your emotions, and what better way to discover music than by the way it makes you feel?”

Some of the new features that have been added to the new web platform include artist bios with concert listings (powered by Songkick), social sharing of mood-playlists (through Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest), song lyrics, and a redeveloped mood search engine where users are able to search by mood to find the perfect playlist through a dedicated search bar labeled “I feel...”

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“We love to give independent artists an opportunity to get their sounds out there, and our new social features should make the word of mouth effect amongst existing and prospective Stereomood users that much more powerful,” added Novaga.

Also new are editorial boxes across the homepage that include news, blog links, site tips and contests. The site also went through some much-needed cosmetic upgrades that include numerous stylistic features. Community members are also able to submit their own music to the service and share their customized lists with fellow users. The staff checks these submissions to ensure that they are of particular quality standards and if they fit a particular playlist and/or mood.

After playing around with the service for a few days, I found the mood-based playlists to be rather reliable. Each song delivered on the playlist's promise of providing an appropriate soundtrack to how I was feeling, while virtually every song I heard was brand new to my ears.

Four former MTV Italy staff members founded Stereomood back in 2008, which started off as an experiment in how to arrange, listen to and discover new, independent music. The service now attracts over one million unique users per month.

Stereomood is available as a desktop version and in mobile app format for iOS and Android devices.

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Hisham Dahud is a Senior Analyst for Hypebot.com. Additionally, he is the head of Business Development for Fame House and an independent musician. Follow him on Twitter: @HishamDahud