Songza CEO on Google Acquisition: 'This Is Just the Beginning'

What music do you listen to when Google acquires your startup? If you're Songza CEO Elias Roman, you blast some Hillbilly Bodybuilding.
Songza is a music service that offers users expertly curated playlists around mood, time of day and general theme. It offers a nice blend between human curation and algorithmic determination. The end result is a service that can offer up some truly fantastic music to perfectly encapsulate a feeling, an event or a routine.
Google bought Songza to help flesh out its Play Music offering, though the company also said it hoped to infuse some of Songza's work into other parts of the company, including YouTube.
I spoke with Roman earlier this evening after news of the acquisition — which was first rumored in early June — became public. According to Roman, all 40 members of Songza's team are now employed by Google.
The company is currently based in Long Island City, New York, but Roman says the company will move to Google's New York offices later this summer.

"This is just the beginning"
"We've always worked hard to keep the human curated side and the algorithmic side of the company separate," Roman says. That has allowed the company to figure out the best way to offer playlists that feel right, while also using algorithmic cues that can be altered based on outside factors.
For a company like Google — one that has a better track record with algorithms than it does with actual content — acquiring a company that understands the role both pieces play in the puzzle could be huge.
For Roman, one of the benefits of the Google acquisition is that Songza will finally be able to bring an interactive layer to its service. Songza will finally be able to bring an interactive layer to its service. As a user, that's something I've always wanted for the service, too. Songza does such a good job of creating a great mix of music, there are times I wish I could do more with the music I'm hearing — whether it's save a specific playlist or get on-the-fly changes based on other things that are happening around me.
Roman says that the company hasn't even scratched the surface of what it can offer for curated playlists. "This is just the beginning," he tells me, noting that Songza has been taking weather data into account for playlists only for a few weeks.
Imagine a scenario where Google Now can incorporate Songza-esque information. So that at 8:35 a.m., you can automatically start listening to music for the workday — and a workday that might be taking place on a rainy day. Roman can also see a vision of the future where Songza's blend of predictive and curated content can be extended outside of pure music and be structured around podcasts, news reports or even videos.
"We already have enough decisions to make every day; you shouldn't also have to think about what you want to listen to when you just want to relax," Roman says. And although the core Songza service might remain unchanged for now — just with more resources to get faster and better — a great advantage of being acquired by Google could be the addition of a Songza-like tool applied toward your cloud music library. Think iTunes Genius, but based around theme rather than song.
The most immediate gains will likely be seen on the Play Music side — where Google says it is already seeing increased engagement with its radio product. Still, I hope we get to see this blend of human taste and computer selection extend to other facets of the company.