AOL on Thursday defended its music strategy, and took issue with a Tuesday report from the NPD Group that said while consumers are most familiar with AOL Music, Pandora gets the most play in terms of actual usage.
“The report … measured us on a metric that we're not even striving for, which is essentially the amount of music listened to," Bill Crandall, vice president and editor-in-chief at AOL Music, said in a phone interview.
NPD found that of the 4,051 people it polled, about 30 percent were aware of AOL Music compared to 20 percent of Pandora, but in terms of actual music listening, 41 percent headed to Pandora, and 13 percent used AOL Music.
AOL Music, Crandall said, is a destination site for a variety of music content, not just streaming songs. “We've really rallied different fan bases by getting specifically into different kinds of content," he said.
The AOL brand can draw in big-name entertainers to the company's two studios in Beverly Hills and New York, so while someone is listening to a streaming version of a Beyonce song on Pandora, they can hear an exclusive live version on AOL Music, according to Crandall.
The company is also focusing on up-and-coming artists rather then the “15 to 20 artists that everybody in the space is competing over," he said. “We've understood that there are lots and lots of artists who have lots of different fan bases."
