GQ.com will be joining the likes of The Guardian and NME in using we7‘s streaming service on its site as of next week. The service will be styled as a jukebox stocked with playlists compiled by GQ’s editorial team. As per we7’s model, GQ online readers will be able to listen for free and buy any tracks they like via the integrated download feature.
It’s a potentially good move for GQ; though the magazine’s enjoying healthy print circulation relative to its competitors, its web performance doesn’t appear to stack up that well against competitors like Esquire.com or the more downmarket FHM.com. A service like we7 that makes the site stickier could change that.
Famously backed by Peter Gabriel, We7 has grown to more than 2m unique users since it launched in 2007. The service now has 4m licensed tracks from a selection of major labels and independents. Last week, web analysis service hitwise rated we7 as the UK’s no.1 music site by page views, overtaking last.fm.
Whether the we7 listening experience compares that well is another story altogether; I tried listening to various we7 playlists while writing this story and got nothing but silence.
Update: Streaming (for me) now works on Safari but not Firefox. Anyone else having similar issues? Drop Gareth [at] we7.com a mail so he can troubleshoot.