Apple's plans for music-streaming domination are now complete: iTunes Radio added NPR to its list of stations. NPR is the first-ever news station to be featured on iTunes Radio, signaling Apple's plans for expanding the reach of the music-streaming service.
NPR will offer free streaming of its programs 24 hours a day on iTunes Radio. Popular shows like the "Diane Rehm Show," "All Things Considered," "This American Life" and "Morning Edition" will be available to all users of iTunes Radio. The stream will mix pre-recorded shows like these with love news updates, so that the feed is dynamic and interesting to users.
NPR said that local public radio stations will start adding similar programming to their own iTunes Radio streams soon. So far, privately owned news broadcasting companies haven't mentioned any plans for iTunes Radio. For the time being, iTunes Radio will be filled with quality news programming from non-profit public radio stations.
Zach Brand NPR vice president of digital media said that NPR's extension into digital radio is a natural one for the company. NPR hopes to reach new, young users through iTunes Radio.
"The public radio audience is very digital savvy, but there are certainly some of the millennials and other folks who are looking for their listening experience exclusively on digital, so we want to reach them wherever they are," Brand said.
Apple wants to turn iTunes Radio into the go-to music-streaming platform, but to do so, it realizes that it must branch out and offer types of content that Pandora and other competitors don't offer. Apple pays the owners of the music it streams on iTunes Radio royalties for the right to make that music available to the service's users. Since NPR is a non-profit company, it is unknown if Apple will pay for its content.
"I would say that Apple has been very understanding of the business model and the connection that public radio has with their audience," Brand added.
It seems that NPR isn't concerned with the money it can make, but rather the type and quality of content it can offer users who prefer a more digital listening experience.
