Social music streaming service Dhingana launches 16 radio stations

Music streaming site Dhingana, has come up with RJ-curated radio stations. In the first release, it has launched 16 radio stations catering to music categories and genres such as Bollywood stars, moods, time of day, party music, chart-toppers, meditation and weekend specials.

Dhingana Radio, as it is called, will be first available only on the web and will be launched on other platforms in the coming month, an official announcement said.

"Most of the music consumption in India today happens via traditional radio, which is programmed by music experts. We wanted to recreate this radio experience on the internet. This launch will enable us to leverage our strengths as an online player in the domain of curated radios," said Dhingana CEO Rohit Bhatia.

Features of Dhingana Radio stations include real-time information on movies and artiste biographies while the songs are being played, as well as the social features which will allow users to like, favourite, comment and share stations with their friends on Facebook and Twitter. Users can also add the current song playing on any of the radio stations to their own playlists.

Dhingana was set up in February 2007 by the twin brothers, Snehal and Swapnil Shinde. It currently features a collection of over 5 lakh free songs in 35 genres, available across different platforms (iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Symbian) and devices. It claims to be the largest on-demand Bollywood and Indian music streaming service across the globe with 15 million active visitors a month. Headquartered in California, the company also has an office in Pune.

The company raised its Series B round worth $7 million in October last year, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Existing investors Inventus Capital Partners and Helion Venture Partners also took part in that round. Earlier in 2011, Dhingana raised an undisclosed amount from Inventus and Helion.

We couldn't find the link to radio channels on the Dhingana portal.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)