Called LAUNCHcast, the BT Yahoo! Broadband and Yahoo! service allows users not only to hear their favourite artists, but get introduced to new music that may be similar or popular among LAUNCHcast users with comparable taste.
The creative campaign will include a 30-second commercial, specialist print ads and online activity.
LAUNCHcast covers a variety of musical genres programmed specifically for the British market, 26 pre-programmed stations in all, and builds on the existing online radio service that has been available on Yahoo! UK & Ireland and BT Yahoo! since October 2003.
Internet radio is one of the web's fastest growing areas with more than 7.3m people accessing services in the UK in 2003, with the youth market being the heaviest users. Around 30% of 15-24s and 21% of 25-34s now tune in online.
Shannon Ferguson, director of LAUNCH Europe, said: "Since going live last summer, LAUNCH has captured a very loyal base of music users in the UK and Ireland, mirroring the success of our US site. The addition of LAUNCHcast to our stable of leading music products and services sets the standard for internet radio in this market."
BT Yahoo! Broadband and internet customers will have access to additional LAUNCHcast features for no extra cost, which includes commercial-free, higher audio quality, unlimited track skipping and extended community features such as the ability to subscribe to other music fans' stations, which may influence listeners' own music choices.
"We've come a long way from the early adopter stage of broadband. Back then it was just about speed, now it is about content and applications," Duncan Ingram, managing director at BTopenworld, said.
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