Audioclub

2022

Stop working on audio service

Gazprom Media is stopping work on its own audio service to focus on developing music distribution through RuTube and Yappy. This became known on February 7, 2023.

In this newspaper, Kommersant, citing its source, wrote that the decision to stop the Audio Club was announced to employees at the end of 2022. According to the interlocutor, the main part of the team left the project, including executive director Kirill Artemyev, and the remaining employees switched to other areas of work of Gazprom-Media.

Gazprom Media stops working on its own audio service

One of the sources of the publication knows that in the summer of 2022, Audio Club entered into an agreement with one of the major distributors of digital content, but in the end, the holding's top management did not agree on a budget for the further development of the project. For success, the service needs extensive directories of performers, the interlocutor explains, and this requires significant investments.

Gazprom-Media told the publication that due to the departure of Western majors, the project "will not be implemented in its original form as a separate music service." They assured that they did not refuse to develop the distribution of audio content, planning to integrate this functionality into the video platforms Rutube and Yappy.

The Russian music industry was waiting for the launch of the Audio Club, counting on the examination of Gazprom-Media in the media industry, says Sergey Babich, producer of Colisium International Music Forum. However, he considers it meaningless to create a music service inside one of the video platforms, given the work already done on the "Audio Club." The decision to freeze the Audio Club could be associated both with the holding's overestimated expectations from the service and with considerations regarding the development of the entire holding as a whole, said Yevgeny Safronov, editor-in-chief of the InterMedia news agency.^[1]

Streaming Audio Service Launch

In early September 2022, Gazprom Media launched the Audio Club streaming music service, which can now be used by anyone. The app is available for devices on Android and iOS platforms, as well as in the browser. To use the service, you must register.

As stated in Gazprom-Media, the Audio Club provides access to all types of audio content: music, audiobooks, podcasts and broadcasting radio stations. The podcast catalog includes recordings of interviews with well-known experts, discussions on a variety of topical topics. Audiobook lovers can find both classics and bestsellers of modern authors working in different genres in the Audio Club. The audio library of the service is actively expanding. At the same time, the application can evaluate content and discuss it with other users, create and save playlists, and a smart recommendation system will select and offer content in accordance with preferences.

Gazprom Media launched a streaming audio service

Users are offered two models of content access:

• free, in which all Audio Club content is available with few restrictions: there will be no background playback function, and the user will see ads;
• tariff "Without advertising," which removes all restrictions, the subscription fee will be 199 rubles per month.

"Audio Club" was launched for everyone about three weeks after the completion of the closed beta testing of the platform.

We successfully conducted closed beta testing and collected valuable feedback from users. In many respects, the service has shown good results, and we will continue to improve it, relying on the wishes received. Already now we are glad to open registration in the service for everyone. I am sure it will appeal to a wider range of users, make it easier for people to access different types of audio content, make their experience in the world of digital audio more comfortable, "said Kirill Artemyev, executive director of Audio Club[2]

Launch of closed beta testing

On June 15, 2022, Gazprom-Media Holding announced the launch of a closed beta testing of the AudioClub streaming service. This platform will combine all types of audio content: music, audiobooks, podcasts and radio.

Participants in the closed beta testing of "AudioClub" will have the opportunity to be among the first to get acquainted with the platform, test its functionality, evaluate the design and convenience of the interface. Any user who left an application on the official website of the audioclub.ru platform until July 6, 2022 will be able to take part in testing the audio service. From July 7, the service will launch in closed beta testing mode, which will be carried out on devices running Android and in the web version.

The AudioClub library is actively filling up and will include millions of music tracks, tens of thousands of audiobooks by Russian and foreign authors of various genres, including classical literature, live broadcasts of radio stations and popular podcasts.

We offer the audience a comfortable way to consume audio content, combining all its types into one product. The streaming service will organically complement the line of our digital assets, which have so far been represented only by video services, - said Alexander Moiseev, Deputy General Director of Gazprom-Media Holding.

[[:Шаблон:Quote "At the beta testing stage, we want to collect the most complete reviews from the first users so that our service meets the needs of the audience and meets its expectations," added Kirill Artemyev, executive director of AudioClub.]]

In the future, "AudioClub" plans to present a number of special functions.

Gazprom-Media announced the launch of the Audio Club

At the end of April 2022, Gazprom-Media announced the launch of the audio service Audio Club. It is alleged that "the entire spectrum of audio content" will be available on the platform, which is available in the Russian Federation: from podcasts to broadcasts of radio stations. In addition, it will also present the services of the holding itself, including the GPM Radio radio station.

We want the Audio Club to become a natural choice for listeners of audio content, and we plan to increase the streaming audience by involving those Internet users who have not yet found a convenient service for themselves. The new audio streaming platform will complement the line of our digital assets Rutube, Premier and Yappy, - said the general director of Gazprom-Media Alexander Zharov.

Gazprom-Media launches rival Spotify

As the deputy head of the holding , Alexander Moiseev, noted, audio consumption almost completely goes into the digital environment, so creating a convenient digital audio platform is a logical step.

Our audience is users with diverse interests. Our main mission is to give them convenient access to the world of digital audio. We also plan to support authors, performers, announcers and emerging presenters by helping them find their audience, he added.

According to RIA Novosti, AudioClub will be launched in the fall of 2022. "AudioClub" may become a potential alternative to foreign services Spotify and YouTube Music, which temporarily stopped working in the Russian Federation after the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine.

By April 2022, Gazprom-Media includes ten broadcast TV channels: NTV, TV-3, TNT, Friday!, Match TV, 2x2, Match! Country, "" Saturday! "and TNT4. In addition, the holding manages the production and distribution of Red Media channels and a line of sports channels, and also owns the NTV-Plus digital and satellite television operator . Gazprom-Media^[3]

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