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Social Audio Startup Stationhead Adds Web Version, Allowing Non-iOS Users to Host Shows

Stationhead, the social-audio app that has helped drive millions of streams by hosting unofficial listening parties – often with the participation of the artists themselves – is launching a…

Stationhead, the social-audio app that has helped drive millions of streams by hosting unofficial listening parties – often with the participation of the artists themselves – is launching a web version, the company tells Billboard. The launch will allow non-iOS users to host shows on the growing platform for the first time.

With the launch, Stationhead will expand its global reach by bringing in web and Android users to the platform’s community of 3.5 million hosts and listeners from more than 186 countries across the globe. Stationhead says it had a waitlist of 10,000 web and Android hosts prior to today’s announcement. Users of the web version will be able to choose from a range of additional options, including the ability to integrate premium recording hardware, including microphones and headphones, for broadcasting.

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The Stationhead app allows users to tune into or host their own live radio stations with music and voice chat while also adding co-hosts or bringing listeners on-air. Because it automatically syncs with users’ paid subscription accounts on Spotify or Apple Music, when a station’s hosts play a track, each user’s streaming account simultaneously plays the song — meaning every listener counts as one stream. The platform made waves in May when the company reported that a multi-day listening party event for BTS’ “Butter” drove 5.4 million streams of the track, helping it land a No. 1 debut on the Billboard Hot 100.

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“Stationhead has exploded in popularity this year. Our exponential organic growth is a testament that radio needed to be reinvented for the world we’re living in today,” said Ryan Star, CEO and co-founder of Stationhead. “As we continue to grow, it is critical to give our users even more ways to stay connected with each other and for our hosts to be able to take it to the next level.”

Just this year, artists including Coldplay, Cardi B, Offset, City Girls, Normani, Camila Cabello, Luke Hemmings and Stray Kids have appeared on Stationhead using the app’s call-in feature to interact with listeners. Others, such as Vanessa Carlton and The Maine, have started their own stations. The company claims that users spend an average of over 1 hour and 40 minutes on-platform a day and that the app hosts over 3,000 fandom stations for artists including Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande.

“We designed Stationhead as a platform where everyone can win,” added Stationhead COO Murray Levison. “Through our strategic partnerships with Apple Music and Spotify, when a track is played on Stationhead, it directly benefits the artist and helps drive their streaming count within the broader ecosystem — this is why Stationhead is the #1 place for artists and fandoms to enjoy music and connect with each other.”