Nicole Junkermann and the music streaming company Songza

On Tuesday, July 1, Google confirmed rumours that had been circulating for weeks about its intent to purchase the music streaming company Songza. In the coming months, Google plans to incorporate Songza’s unique playlist creation service into Google Play and YouTube. For now, however, Songza will continue to function as an independent app.

Songza, which was founded in 2007 and has raised a total of $6.7 million from investors including Nicole Junkermann,markets itself as a “lifestyle enhancement” resource. It recommends specialized playlists, customized according to listener preferences, with the goal of enhancing whatever action or setting the listener selects. Its playlist options include activities like working out, driving, backyard barbecue, and many more. Songza also offers playlists to match an individual’s mood or even the weather, in partnership with the Weather Channel.

Songza relies on the opinions, knowledge and intuition of a variety of music experts, including DJs, music journalists, musicians and musicologists, to develop its playlists. Songza is one of the few music-streaming services to rely primary on human input rather than algorithms. Its growth can be attributed to these facts, as well as its emphasis on the listener experience.

In contrast to Pandora, which offers radio-like streaming based on genre or musical artist, Songza offers playlists tailored to individuals. The company’s (former) CEO cites this type of music “curation” as the thing that sets Songza apart, and also implies that the concept could be extended to other digital media.

Music streaming is the fastest-growing division of the industry. Just one month ago, Apple acquired Beats, which produces the popular Beats headphones by Dr. Dre as well as expert-created playlists. Google, Apple, and Amazon are competing with popular, independent services like Spotify and Pandora for a share of the rapidly growing music streaming market.

In its investigation of the motivation behind Google’s Songza acquisition, the Washington Post cites an earlier article published in Forbes that further explains Songza’s unique appeal. Even though Songza has a far smaller number of users than Pandora (5.5 million compared to a staggering 75 million), Google isn’t necessarily looking to recruit listeners with the purchase. After all, it already owns YouTube, the number one web-based source for music access and discovery. Rather, with its acquisition of Songza, Google is likely more focused on Songza’s distinctive “curation” style of music streaming.

Following weeks of speculation, both Songza and Google have officially announced the acquisition with enthusiasm. On its website, Songza stated, “We can’t think of a better company to join in our quest to provide the perfect soundtrack for everything you do.” It seems likely that the acquisition will pay off for Google as well.