Streaming music service lets you listen to Ushers iPhone

US music star Usher has launched an interesting music service on the iPhone today. The streaming music app offers fans the chance to listen to Ushers 100 favourite songs, over and over again, for a once off payment of 3 dollars.

More details?

This is basically a radio-station. 100 of the songs that Usher found particularly inspirational or enjoyable are put on a constant loop, and you pay $3 to listen whenever you want. Just make sure you’re on a limitless data plan, because it’s all streaming. There are options embedded in each song for a paid download as well:

The blurb for the app claims it “represents Usher’s jam-list and is like having Usher personally spinning tunes for you”, including songs by Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Michael Jackson. Well I guess that’s true, if by “spinning tunes” you mean “giving you access to one of his playlists“. Which makes sense, as the idea of this service seems to be that you are paying to listen to the kind of music that Usher would put on his iPhone.

The app was developed by podcasting network Wizzard Media and streaming media experts Melodeo (also known as Nutsie).

What we think?

It’s interesting that all these music services are being launched now, since the FCC and Spotify opened the floodgates. My initial reaction to this release was to question why it has taken so long for Usher to get his own iPhone app. Tech-savvy celebs have been launching their own apps since 2008, and even those who aren’t tech savvy should have agents and advisors to push these things for them. But it’s quite possible that this streaming app offered a music selection that was too targeted – if you were into the same kind of music that “Usher” is, surely you would spend at minimum 100 songs worth of time not using the iPhones music functions. It’s not likely that Apple felt threatened by that, but it has a history of being dodgy about music apps.

However, a quick look on the store revealed that Usher does indeed have one of those “one stop” apps to connect you with his latest releases and updates. Either way, a once-off payment of $3 for 100 songs is no bad investment if you’re into that sort of thing.