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In the past, Jango was very successful with its captivating social media features and artist support. However, it went downhill after it implemented a clunky lyric feature and intrusive display ads. This has led to Jango having a lot of backlash from its loyal users, who are currently working towards finding a middle ground.
After many reviews and complaints from users, Jango reduced its advertisement rate to one per day. This was welcomed by the users who had been bombarded with commercial assault every five minutes before. Nonetheless, the platform has lost its charm because it no longer emphasizes on quality. Earlier, it was seen as a helpful hand for indie-artists. Today, however, it feels like a marketing hotbed that places too much emphasis on pushing artists for money. This approach never goes well for any party involved and thus there has been a drop in Jango's monthly listeners.
What is Jango?
Jango is a custom music streaming service which offers users a wide variety of genres to choose from. Jango was the first music streaming platform to include social networking capabilities into its radio station. Since 2007, users have been able to listen to user-generated playlists and share them with others on Jango's social network.
Over the years, Jango has built its reputation as a site that provides indie artists a chance to showcase their music for free. Charging $30 for 1000 plays would "recommend" songs by popular artists alongside those by indie producers. This particular feature is known as the Jango airplay and has helpedindependent producers get their music out there and be heard from the masses. Some of the key features of Jango airplay include: - Song played once within any two-hour period - Once a song is played, it won?t be played again throughout the day - Any song with over 50 upvotes will be pushed to the regular playlist.
What I appreciate about these conditions is that Jango is not completely commercializing the platform. It will help budding artists, but only insofar as it does not detrimentally impact their regular listeners. Thus, when a particular song is aired and it receives the backing of Jango, it will automatically receive Jango's support. In the event that it does not receive this support, it will not be played again, so both users and artists can be pleased.
History
In November 2007, Jango was founded by Chris Dowhan and Daniel Kaufman. It began to amassed tracks in its library two years later, in 2010. By the end of 2018, Jango had over 70 million songs and 20 million active users.
Why should you stream on Jango?
Though the streaming services may have lost its popularity in recent years, it still manages to attract over a million users a month. And that's because it still offers quality features that providers dedicated users tune-in to Jango.
Custom Radio
Jango is a custom radio that I use to hear what I want. It makes listening to music easy and fun. You can create custom radio stations, share with your network, and even access another user's playlist. Choose your favorite band or singer and Jango will start playing music from those artists. You can keep refining your stations and songs by playing tracks frequently. Jango has a pre-existing playlist with hundreds of stations based upon different genres.
Unlimited Skip feature
If you do not like a song, you are allowed to skip it as many times as you want. There is no restriction on how many times you may skip. This feature is found in AccuRadio, except that one comes with a pre-roll ad after every 3-4 skips.
Customizable Stations
The feature "to add songs to a playlist" is not common. The first way to do it is to set a limit on the number of songs that can be added. The second way is to choose an artist and have the service choose music for you according to your tastes. My list has Redman, Post Malone, Twenty-One Pilots, Drake and Adele. This allows the service to adapt as per my taste and provide music based upon my preference. What I really like about this service is that you can find music even if you don't remember the lyrics or if it was in a commercial.
Fresh Music
I have a strong attraction to hearing underground artists. There is something special about knowing the artist before they are popular. Jango as a service provides access to such talented artists who can be huge in years to come. Thus, helping you develop a connection with them before they even hit the mainstream stage.
How to access Jango?
The Jango website is available by typing the keyword Jango or by using the following link: Jango Custom Radio. You can also find and download the official app on Android and iOS platforms. Simply type Jango in the search bar and you will find it on the store.
Design
The font used on the website is very unattractive and takes away from the good design elements.
I liked the callout on this page which says ??Our handpicked playlists are specially curated to help you find your next favorite song.? The playlist?s are sorted into genres and there is a ?Add to playlist? button at the bottom. I clicked on the button and then clicked on a playlist called ??Best of 60s Rock??. After that, I was taken to another page with more information about the playlist such as who curated it, when it was published, and how long it will be available for.
Upon visiting the website for the first time, I saw a blue background - search bar at the center and tiny thumbnails under it. There were eight different categories with small album art cluttered into a thumbnail. Under that, there's a callout which says "Browse over 800 curated genre playlists?" Honestly, I felt like bouncing off right away but since I wanted to review the service, I had to stick around. And so, I clicked on Popular Rock Hits and started my journey. It took me to a new page which is standard format for all of the pages. I liked the callout on this page which says "Our handpicked playlists are specifically curated to help you find your next favorite song." The playlist's are sorted into genres and there is a "Add to playlist" button at the bottom. I clicked on the button and then clicked on a playlist called "Best of 60s Rock." After that, I was taken to another page with more information about the playlist such as who curated it, when it was published, and how long it will be available for.
Since the website is unconventional, we'll have to dissect it on the basis of different parameters. As soon as I visited the Popular Rock Hits page, I was able to rate songs and create stations as a guest. It allowed me to review everything in the settings menu. Furthermore, I created an account and logged in so I can see if it can keep up with my music taste. Throughout my 2-hour journey on the website, here are a few of the important bits that I'd like to share with you.
Homepage
The app loads a personalized section based on the category you selected. It'll suggest radio stations, recent stations, and hundreds of other genres which you can access.
Favorite Songs
You can access all the songs you've thumbs up by using this section. You'll be able to view the video of that song along with information about the artists. At any time, you can choose to add or remove the songs from that list.
Banned Songs
This section will be a list of all the songs that you have thumbed down. You will be able to see the information about the artist, and you will be able to remove or add songs to this list.
Station History
Can you review and edit the station's list by using its history? This is one of the primary reasons I logged in. I wanted to know if the platform could actually track my preferences, and I'm glad to share that it didn't disappoint.
Content
So whether you?re in the mood for some fresh country music or if you need to drown out the kids, Jango has got you covered.
I appreciate how great the selection of songs on Jango is. All radio streaming services are trying to outdo each other with their song selections, but Jango offers a variety of genres that cover a lot of different tastes. They also have traditional stations, so you can find whatever kind of music you're looking for.
Desktop/Mobile experience
Though the service is receiving criticism, it doesn't compromise on quality. It offers good streaming quality with no hiccups in music from any connection. I was able to skip an unlimited number of tracks â a feature not even provided by premium services such as Pandora or Slacker Radio.
Plans & Pricing
Jango is free to use, but you must watch ads while using it.
Suggestions I have for Jango
I would be fine with paying $3.99/month if the developers could remove the ads. The ads along with the intrusive artist promotion just bring down the overall experience which is great. Another suggestion would be to improve the website - it looks really bad and beginners might not be comfortable using it.
Conclusion
Jango's music quality is on par with the best music streaming services out there. However, its interface and annoying artist promotion ads don't help the service in any way. If you're looking for a free radio streaming service, you should check Jango out at least once.