iHeartRadio and Virgin America Join Forces to Bring New Music Offerings up in the Air

iHeartRadio, iHeartMedia’s all-in-one digital music and live streaming radio service, today announced it has joined forces with Virgin America to bring a new music selection to 35,000 feet – curated for the airline by iHeartRadio and Virgin Produced (Virgin Group’s entertainment arm). The partnership will integrate iHeartRadio-branded music stations into Virgin America’s award-winning Red® in-flight entertainment system at every seatback and will also be available through iHeartRadio, allowing travelers to continue listening everywhere they go after landing via their own computer, tablet or mobile devices.

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“We’re excited to partner with one of the most innovative and popular airlines to bring quality music and entertainment to consumers – even at 35,000 feet,” said Michele Laven, President of Business Development and Partnerships at iHeartMedia. “This is the first step in a robust partnership between Virgin and iHeartMedia and it paves the way for more exciting integrations in the near future.”

Earlier this month, Virgin America also announced the beta launch of the next generation of its Red in-flight entertainment system that creates even more of an immersive in-flight entertainment experience with higher resolution capacitive touch screens, Android-based software that will allow for faster, real-time updates, three times more content – including full seasons of favorite television shows, more interactive maps, video games including classics like Pac Man and Asteroids – and more. Virgin America features the largest in–flight entertainment library in the domestic skies via the touch screen Red platform. In addition to a more than 25–film library, live television, music videos and video games at every seat, Red offers more than 3,000 MP3s and allows guests to create their own playlist in–flight. The airline is known for featuring an eclectic and diverse range of artists in its onboard library.

Beginning immediately, iHeartRadio will bring six curated and branded stations to Virgin America’s Red in-flight entertainment system including:

• Atmospheres: This perfect meditation station features mellow songs like “Healing” by Kamal that will help relax the body, mind and soul.
• Dub & Dubber: Reggae sounds that features stripped raw elements, clear bass and low end. King Tubby & Friends, a Dub music originator from Kingston, Jamaica known for his groundbreaking techniques and raw elements, is one of the featured artists.
• Dyna-Mic Flows: Trailblazing hip-hop that looks forward while also paying respect to its history – this station includes talented performers like Del tha Funky Homosapien & Parallel Thought.
• Pop, Skip & A Jump: Hear the best new “Alterna Pop” artists like Nosaj Thing – a Los Angeles-based artist known for creating music compositions to groove along to – in this pop music station that leans just left-of-center.
• Lat-Indie: Playing songs that embrace old traditions like música norteña and polka, but with a modern, indie-rock twist. Artists like Fernanda Ulibarri will make you shake your hips, even if you are in an airplane seat.
• Soul-igarchy: Soul and classic R&B that takes you back to the golden age of rhythm and blues. Featured artists include Brownout, a band out of Austin, Texas whose music has an ultra hip funk-Latin-vintage-soul kind of style.

The stations will also be available everywhere iHeartRadio is including online, mobile devices, wearables, in-car, in-home, gaming consoles and more. When accessed through the iHeartRadio platform, listeners will also have access to its interactive station features such as Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down feedback and skip.

“As the music fan’s airline of choice, we’re thrilled to partner with iHeartRadio to offer more variety to our flyers with these curated music stations,” said Alfy Veretto, In-flight Entertainment Manager at Virgin America. “And as we begin to roll out the next iteration of our in-flight entertainment system, Red, this month – our guests can expect an even more immersive experience onboard with new features like faster, higher resolution capacitive touch screens and even more entertainment content at their seatback.”

“Music and entertainment have always been an integral part of the DNA of our brand,” said Jason Felts, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Virgin Produced. “In addition to developing and producing our own content, we work closely with like-minded partners such as iHeartRadio to produce fresh entertainment offerings.”

Virgin America and iHeartRadio will roll out several promotions in 2015 to introduce the iHeartRadio branded stations to passengers, including videos on Red and more.

Editor’s Note: Virgin America is a U.S.-controlled, owned and operated airline. It is an entirely separate company from Virgin Atlantic. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is a minority share investor in.

About Virgin America

Known for its mood-lit cabins, three beautifully designed classes of service and innovative fleetwide amenities — like touch-screen personal entertainment, WiFi and power outlets at every seat, Virgin America has built a loyal following of flyers and earned a host of awards since launching in 2007 — including being named both the "Best U.S. Airline" in Condé Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards and "Best Domestic Airline" in Travel + Leisure's World's Best Awards for the past seven consecutive years. For more: www.virginamerica.com.

About iHeartMedia

With 245 million monthly listeners in the U.S., 97 million monthly digital uniques and 196 million monthly consumers of its Total Traffic and Weather Network, iHeartMedia has the largest reach of any radio or television outlet in America. It serves over 150 markets through 858 owned radio stations, and the company’s radio stations and content can be heard on AM/FM, HD digital radio, satellite radio, on the Internet at iHeartRadio.com and on the company’s radio station websites, on the iHeartRadio mobile app, in enhanced auto dashes, on tablets and smartphones, and on gaming consoles.

iHeartRadio, iHeartMedia’s digital radio platform, is the No. 1 all-in-one digital audio service with over 600 million downloads; it reached its first 20 million registered users faster than any digital service in Internet history and reached 70 million users faster than any digital music service and even faster than Facebook. The company’s operations include radio broadcasting, online, mobile, digital and social media, live concerts and events, syndication, music research services and independent media representation. For more company information visit iHeartMedia.com.

About Virgin Produced

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Virgin Produced is the film and television development, packaging, and production arm of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group. Led by Co-founder/CEO, Jason Felts and Chief Creative Officer, Justin Berfield, Virgin Produced breaks the archaic models of traditional Hollywood by providing a collaborative environment that embraces talent to produce quality content reflective of the Virgin brand. Launched in 2010, Virgin Produced's films include Limitless, Machine Gun Preacher, Immortals, Movie 43, 21 & Over, bio-pic Jobs, and comedy That Awkward Moment which have cumulatively grossed over $724MM in worldwide box office. With an equal focus on television, commercials and branded entertainment, Virgin Produced has a robust slate of television projects in development and work hand in hand with Virgin companies to concept and produce branded content. This includes the CLIO and Shorty award winning Virgin America Safety Dance video garnering over 727 million media impressions and 10 millions views. In April 2012, Virgin Produced launched its own digital network of Virgin Produced Channels, with premium programming of lifestyle, music, travel, technology, and comedy content currently available onboard Virgin airlines and hotels and expanding across other Virgin transportation, mobile, broadband, health club, and retail operating companies. In 2013, Virgin Produced expanded into India with the launch of Virgin Produced India, developing, producing, and distributing Bollywood film and television content. Very simply: Virgin Produced creates content meant to inspire and entertain with direct access to reach over 60 million loyal Virgin brand fans globally. For more information, please visit www.virginamerica.com.

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