Mad Genius Radio Feels Like A Smarter Version Of Old-School Radio

Mad Genius Radio is taking a somewhat old-school approach to streaming music.

In a world where most radio services use correlation algorithms to figure out what you want to hear, based on beats per minute and cadence and genre, without really thinking about the right rotation of new and old music. Thus, the stations you end up listening to the most become a bit stale.

But Mad Genius is different.

The newly launched platform offers users up to five presets, just like you’d find on a car radio, each of which can be tailored to the listener’s tastes. The presets offer an infinite playlist, where they can add up to seven different genres. Then, upon listening, users can give more of their rotation to certain genres, as well as rank specific songs and artists, upping the frequency with which that type of music will be played.

But most importantly, the genres are being constantly updated with the best and most interesting music, so that each users presets are constantly changing based on the songs in each genre’s rotation. The user still maintains control of the overall tone of the preset, dictating the value of each genre, artist and song, but the content itself is being updated by the Mad Genius algorithm.

However, users who listen to Time Machine stations for decade-based playlists (Best of the 80’s) will get the same songs in that station every time, with the ability to add in other genres that do update.

Another big differentiator for Mad Genius Radio is that users can always “undo” any of their settings. In most streaming services, like iTunes Radio, Songza, etc., when you delete a song or mark it to not play, you lose it forever. But sometimes you just want to mute some of your favorite songs so you don’t over-listen to them, which Mad Genius Radio allows for.

The company has $2 million in funding from undisclosed investors, and charges $5/month or $48/year. However, an extended free trial is currently underway with a paywall going up next year.

The service launched this week and is available now across iOS, Android and the web.

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