In a strange offering, you can now listen to locally curated music stations from Google Play Music — on TripAdvisor.
It’s an unusual way to gain subscribers, and that’s really what’s at the heart of this collaboration, which has Google offering two free months of subscription to its music streaming service.
“Starting today, with the TripAdvisor Android app, you can access a wide array of well-known and hidden-gem soundtracks for popular cities to listen to whether you’re in travel-planning mode or on a road trip exploring the globe,” Brandon Bilinski, product manager for Google Play Music, writes in a blog post.
It works like this: If you’re planning a trip via TripAdvisor, or are en route to or in a city for a vacation, Google will offer up some classic tunes to set you in the right mood and get you excited. It all happens in TripAdvisor’s Android app, but when you click on a a station, you’ll be redirected to Google Play Music, with an option to accept a two-month trial subscription to the service.
It looks as though the feature is similar to what you’ll find on the Listen Now tab of Google Play Music, where it offers you music based on mood, time of day, and various activities. The TripAdvisor function, though, is curated for cities.
Google is aggressively looking for ways to expand its Play Music user base as it vies for customers with more popular streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. Granting a free trial of its service via TripAdvisor is an odd but interesting way to showcase its music discovery tool — which was integrated from Songza’s technology.
The integration is live now, and works for more than 60 countries where Google Play Music is supported.
