Users of Hype Machine’s Android and iOS apps will notice that display ads have started running in their apps.
We are grateful to everybody who’s purchased the apps since we began releasing them in 2011. These sales allowed us to maintain them and develop new features, and we thank you for your support.
We know that it’s frustrating to see ads in an app you’ve paid for, and we wish we could keep the experience ad-free. Unfortunately, as a small team without outside funding, it is no longer possible for us to keep the app running without the revenue that advertising can provide.
Hype Machine has supported itself with advertising since 2005, and with these changes, we hope to keep bringing you new music for many more years to come. Thank you for listening with us.
UPDATE 12/14/16
We considered many options before introducing ads in our apps, and there are many reasons why subscription/donation/IAP offers were not workable for us at the time (for example, supporting two product experiences is tough for a team of three people).
Given the strong show of support for an ad-free solution since the announcement, we are looking into ways people could remove ads in the apps. If you are interested, sign up here.
UPDATE 03/23/17
Ads in our mobile apps have been temporarily disabled.
“It is no longer possible for us to keep the app running without the revenue that advertising can provide”… I think people who use Hype Machine think otherwise.
The alternative choices are listed in the comments of http://blog.hypem.com/2016/12/ads-in-the-hype-machine-android-app/#comments
Zoya – Could you please blog about why is it not possible given there are choices?
December 12, 2016 4:39 pm
Sorry what? I love HM and I’d happily buy a HM 2 app. Or pay a monthly subscription. Or an IAP for 12 months ad-free. This move makes no sense. Please reconsider, it just cheapens your brand.
December 12, 2016 4:57 pm
Fair play, lads. Keep the good work. As long as ads aren’t popping up it should be alright.
December 12, 2016 5:08 pm
On the one hand, yeah, $4 for a few years of ad-free music is a pretty good deal. But I have to echo the comments on other posts that this seems A) out of the blue, and B) kinda odd that there’s no ad-free option for a nominal fee. Many apps use that model — why not y’all?
December 12, 2016 5:08 pm
So I assume you’ll be refunding all of us who paid $4 for your app?
This is totally unacceptable.
December 12, 2016 5:18 pm
It really isn’t fair. Paying users have given you the support you needed in the first place. Make a free version, those who don’t pay’t will then happily endorse your ads and you will actually grow. Keep it ad free for the hardcore.
December 12, 2016 6:17 pm
Apparently SoundCloud moneyz aren’t worth what they used to be…
December 12, 2016 8:31 pm
I appreciate the transparency. I understand that it is difficult to monetize without mobile ads, but I still feel like I have been cheated. I started using hype machine since 2009, and the mobile app is the most used app on my iPhone. I wish that users who have had accounts before a certain time could be exempt from the ads.
December 12, 2016 9:24 pm
Wow. Not even a heads up this was going to happen. I would gladly pay more to have a good application.
Longest time user.. guess it’s time to look elsewhere.
December 12, 2016 10:02 pm
Damn. This sucks. No more offline mode. That was the best part about the HM app. Would definitely like a refund. Might as well delete this app to make space for more podcast.
December 12, 2016 10:45 pm
I knew hypem was too good to be true. Really enjoyed the app while it lasted, unfortunately this update marks the beginning of the end.
On to looking for an alternative.
December 13, 2016 12:28 am
You guys know this kind of tactic will kill you. This is cutting out while you’re on top. Smart business move, perhaps, but you’re just shafting your customer base for a last hoorah payout. I get it, we all need money, but you could have done this so much for tactfully. So much potential for innovation when it comes to a service like this where you want to generate more capital, and you just followed the shady footsteps of all the other b.s. business models out there to ‘get rich quick!’
How come Wikipedia is one of the top ten biggest sites in the whole wide world web, and still runs ad free? Hmm, I wonder… perhaps they aren’t greedy f$&king a$$holes.
F$&k hype machine.
December 13, 2016 3:50 am
This is such a silly move. You are effectively breaking a promise to all your most loyal users, who actually went out and PAID for the app and service rather than just stream for free from the website.
As many other have noted this is really short term thinking, why not add a paid tier for a few bucks a year – plus maybe give some months for free to all your users who already paid once under false premises? How bloody desparate are you for short term revenue?
December 13, 2016 7:52 am
Yeah this is completely uncool to throw ads into an app that was more than a $1, Idc how you rationalize that. There should have been a way to make the app ad-free at least for legacy users. I’m done with HypeM.
December 13, 2016 9:10 am
This is unacceptable. Please regroup and think this through. You have many options to generate money such as a donate button that allows you to remove ads.
December 13, 2016 10:30 am
Well, it had a good run. There should be options to have an ad-free Hyper Machine experience. I do not approve of the move and none of the other clients seem to like it either. Listen to your customers…
December 13, 2016 10:35 am
Another option would be to create a system like Reddit Gold where you can pay by the month/year AND you can gift it to people. This would even further the reach to new users.
December 13, 2016 10:39 am
Also… the soundcloud banner in the player is pretty ugly. It makes the player look and feel cluttered. The old player was clean, simple, beautiful. It worked! Why fix what wasn’t broken? It definitely is now.
December 13, 2016 10:47 am
Wow wtf. I fired up the app yesterday because I was feeling nostalic to my old playlist. Everything was fine yesterday. Today I come and there are ads AND no offline cached mode anymore. Basically the two only reasons I paid for this app. Very disappointed
December 13, 2016 11:56 am
We considered many options before introducing ads in our apps, and there are many reasons why subscription/donation/IAP offers were not workable for us at the time (for example, supporting two product experiences is tough for a team of three people). Given the strong show of support for an ad-free solution since the announcement, we are looking into ways people could remove ads in the apps. If you are interested, sign up here: http://cm.hypem.com/h/y/FE2BBC49F12FF1E1
For clarity, offline mode has been removed to comply with the SoundCloud Terms of Service. I am sad to see it go too.
December 13, 2016 1:36 pm
To not take care of your paying customers is incredibly gross and you should be ashamed. The people that paid for your iOS app are without a doubt the most dedicated users, willing to drop money on a free service.
You shouldn’t fuck over your paying customers because you ineptly didn’t go free-ad-supported years ago like any intelligent app developer. Of course a $5 music app for a free web service won’t pay the bills.
You guys have seriously been dropping the ball lately with shady moves. Stop fucking us.
December 13, 2016 5:11 pm
Anthony, I get it and thanks for your reply. SoundCloud is a bunch of fucking douchebags and they seem to continue on that route. However I was streaming and my new roommate asked me what site this was and I was explaining to her how awesome it was, features like time machine etc. and she signed up. A day later I find that features of a paid app have suddenly gone which left me quite disappointed. This app was the first app I ever bought because I thought it was worth it, but if I had to buy it today I probably wouldn’t. You guys are smart, I’m sure you can figure something out in the future.
December 13, 2016 6:06 pm
I have been a heavy user since 2008. Hypem is probably my favorite thing since the internet. I have tremendous respect for the developers and founders of hypem. With that said, I still find it hard to swallow this news. Even though the developers have a better idea of their website, I can’t help but feel cheated with this update. I work in advertising and I know how much ads mean, but this is not how you implement it. I can only assume that the developers are either desperate or out of touch, because this is not how you treat your users. I can understand the offline play is out of their hands, but there are so many better ways of going about adding monetary value. They just need to be a little creative. Really hope we see some changes soon, or I fear hypem is on a downward spiral.
December 14, 2016 1:15 am
What a sad day. I’m guessing you guys didn’t want to get rid of offline playback, but that was one of the best features of the app and the reason I paid for it. However, I’ll still use HypeM to discover new music regardless. Thanks for the past eight years.
December 14, 2016 2:49 am
Long time user. You underestimate the love you have from your users.
Give us an option to donate, anything over $15 gets a year ad free.
And bring back offline! That was such an amazing feature and a game changer for somebody who spends many hours on a plane each week.
December 14, 2016 8:11 am
just wanted to chime in – i too don’t love ads, but i do think we need to have more empathy for the HypeMachine team than the comments here show.
They’re running a business and I’m sure considered some form of IAP. Maybe, for example, getting ads out today and IAP later, is superior than launching both later.
If we’re actual fans of HypeM I think we should give them the benefit of the doubt and stick around, rather than saying its the beginning of the end. Also we should buy tshirts.
December 14, 2016 12:30 pm
Thanks for finding a way to keep the app up and running!!
<3
December 14, 2016 12:39 pm
First off, I just wanted to say how much I love you guys. You’ve been my primary source of new music for almost a decade now. When the new app was introduced it meant I could take you guys on the go, and that was great. One of the best features being the offline cashe. I recently noticed it was no longer an option. I was just wondering why that was and if it will ever see it’s return. With many music streaming options available, I feel like you owe it to your users to provide a solution or a valid excuse for this abrupt change. Hype, in a lot of ways you’ve been trend setters in your field. I just hope you can persevere what you’ve built, because at this point I’m ready to make a switch. Bring back the cashe, I don’t mind paying a little extra cash.
December 14, 2016 4:01 pm
No respect for the user base. Absolute slap in the face. Bye hypem
December 14, 2016 5:16 pm
I’ve used the app for YEARS for only $4.
Let’s not kid ourselves, it costs more than that to run the app I am sure.
Show us ads so you can keep HM going!
Reality is, most people won’t pay.
Show us ads! But make sure their good.
December 14, 2016 5:19 pm
Not so bothered about the ads, but losing the offline cache is devastating.
Hype has been the most used app on my phone for many years, but without the offline option very sadly going to have to look for a new service.
December 14, 2016 6:24 pm
This is not cool at all. We pay an already rather high price for the app, and suddenly get ads and no offline mode?
A much more reasonable would have been to not update the paid app, and stop updating it altogether.
Then launch a new free app with these ads.
Can I be reimbursed? This is not what I paid for.
December 14, 2016 7:24 pm
First time I’ve ever looked into rolling back an app to an older version. Does anyone know how to or if it would work?
December 15, 2016 5:02 am
What a joke this has become. Hype got its popularity from blog consolidation, to put it nicely… or really just finding ways to suck the music tracks off of them and put them in an app and charge people the privilege to listen to them. But then pull the bait and switch, first by pretending that the SoundCloud agreement was “good for users” by blocking Sonos from working, artificially crippling it in the hopes that Sonos users, who must have more money, would pay $10 for crappy SoundCloud premium just to play their f-ing lists from Hype Machine on the speakers. Well, that didn’t bring in enough cash, so we’ll make a case that we “can’t continue developing the app”, which we sort of stopped doing other than fixing bugs years ago, and cripple the actual app further, and add ads instead of creating a new tier, because, well that would cost money and SoundCloud management would get upset that we’re also charging a premium for ad-free content. Hey, while we’re at it, let’s ruin the one thing we sold when we were selling apps–the ability to play favorites off line. Hell, we just improved that this summer but let’s totally rip it out so we can kiss the arse of our SoundCloud overlords? What’s that? People are not using our app any longer and our ad revenue isn’t working? Gee I wonder if we can ask for more money from SoundCloud. Oh wait, they just got bought and are shutting us down. Well, bye!
December 15, 2016 12:47 pm
Putting ads in an app after I paid for it and then retroactively making that app free has to be against something in the App Store TOS.
If you want to make the app free but ad supported make an IAP to disable the ads and give everyone who bought the app a code for the IAP.
It’s the only fair thing to do.
I bought the app as soon as it came out because I love hypem but if I’d know my purchase would eventually expire I wouldn’t have.
December 15, 2016 2:37 pm
For those curious: no, we don’t get any money from SoundCloud.
SoundCloud, however, does stream all that great music you see in our apps/website and pays artists when they do. So that’s pretty cool.
December 15, 2016 4:31 pm
Not a fan of the ads, but not a a big deal enough deal for me to stop using the app. BUT getting rid of the offline feature is an awful idea and will lose anyone a bunch of business to Spotify, iTunes etc. V dissapointed.
December 15, 2016 9:20 pm
Most concerning for me is no offline play at the same time as you make the app free. The offline play feature being removed is something that will unfortunately make me stop using HypeM.
December 17, 2016 2:31 pm
Thanks for deleting my earlier comment. I guess I’ll restate that adding advertising onto something I already paid for is so dodgy. Refund me or remove advertising for people who previously paid full price.
December 18, 2016 3:00 am
Great work guys! I personally don’t mind the ads – it’s not like annoying Spotify ads that are so frustrating that made me even stop using the app. What HM offers is nothing like any other typical music app/site.
I just wish SoundCloud wouldn’t impose their rules on you guys for not being able to play *offline*. Is it possible to at least keep some of the songs which are shared are other independent sites than SoundCloud?
December 19, 2016 7:34 am
I don’t mind the ads too much. Yes, since we paid $4 for the mobile app, having ads doesn’t seem right but if it’s that’s what it takes to keep HM running then so be it. However, I would gladly pay a little more to not have ads. My main concern is the loss of the Offline mode. Aside from the music curation, that was what made HM so great. At the very least, please find away to bring that back.
December 19, 2016 4:08 pm
Those who have paid the $4 for the app should not get ads. Ads should be applied for all those who download the free app. Honestly, as a long-time user and big advocate of your product, this is not a creative business decision. You could’ve put a lot more thought into the execution. Also, a majority of the music you pulled were from music blogs, not from SoundCloud. The fact you’re piggybacking off of SoundCloud and as a result, removing offline cache, is a poor strategic decision. You’re destroying a lot of your value in chasing some security. Netflix just introduced offline play and Spotify has been doing the same. You’re allowing SoundCloud to dictate the rules. You’re going in the opposite direction. Very disappointed. I will no longer be telling friends how awesome this app is not be an evangelist for this. I as well as many others will be looking for an alternative. Thanks for the ride.
December 20, 2016 10:50 am
You guys are totally awesome. Lifesavers when it comes to music. It’s a sad fact that it is so difficult to monetize curation, especially for niche taste. I am amazed and very happy that you guys have lasted this long and really happy you are making new moves. At first I was worried the move towards “integration” with spotify and soundcloud was a sign of resignation, but this step towards (some) ad display, which is standard for apps, is very positive. I personally can’t stand ads, and totally support the suggestion of a more expensive ad-free version, and expect you to get there as well. At some point, I hope you find a way whereby you’re amazing value-add is brought to the masses, at great wealth for all you hypem-peeps, but without loss of integrity of the service.
December 20, 2016 2:01 pm
I would add that it is sooo easy for us users, especially longtime users who almost identify with your service, to react against this change. However, I really believe that if you don’t do this, there will soon be no hypem, and that is much much worse.
December 20, 2016 2:06 pm
And I’m guessing the change in offline play was a matter if negitiation and necessary concessions. After all, thanks to the linkage to spotify, there is now ample offline capability that way, and I can now manage playlists which is a huge add.
December 20, 2016 2:10 pm
I’ve been using Hype Machine since 2007 or so, absolutely love the app and thanks to it would have never listened to quite a few tunes. The App was fantastic to begin with and I was more than happy to pay to get it. As a lot of the comments in this post, I really don’t mind the ads, that’s a complete fair addition, but what is absolutely shocking is having nullified the Offline mode. The times I’ve used Hype M during flights, in the underground and daily commute where signal is terrible are many. I never wanted to download Spotify or even pay the subscription for ITunes due to the fact that my collection over all these years with my music in HypeM and all the recent music and again absolute tunes I’ve heard using the app are loads. Would be a good token of appreciation to reinstate the online mode and make it a great app again.
December 20, 2016 4:18 pm
Agreed with all of these comments. We would all happily pay. It’s as if you forgot to ask your customers what they want. Like the resg of brooklyn hypemachine now blows
December 20, 2016 8:26 pm
I don’t mind about ads… BUT BRING BACK OFFLINE MODE. Now the app is pretty much 80% of the time when the signal is horrible commuting. I have been using it since day 1 and wouldn’t want to switch to another service.
Bring back offline mode please…
Best of luck fawks
December 25, 2016 8:28 am
Man lots of ppl with a big sense of entitlement here. I paid a couple bucks for this app years and years ago I’ve more than got my fair few bucks worth. If ads are what it takes do what you gotta do, but I would pay a subscription fee for ad free if offline worked better as well. Love you guys at hypem! Keep it up!
December 25, 2016 9:43 am
Ive been a member since the beginning.
I payed the one-time charge and have been a LOYAL Hype Machiner. In-fact, ive put other people onto the app!
My quarals lay with the instating of ADS (without warning or a monthly paid option available) . Apps such as Pandora, Spotify have ad free options.
Your fan base, your followers are hurt by the KEY ASPECT OF HYPE MACHINE! That being, your Offline Feature.
Now, you’re sadly no different than the other Ad (paid monthly) music apps.
Ill be standing by for improvements & ideas moving forward.
January 3, 2017 9:57 pm
No one can live on passion alone. It’s amazing how much work goes into Hype Machine and how many people expect it to be totally free. I ask anyone complaining about the ads, what have you done for free lately?
January 4, 2017 5:40 pm
I would have paid for an ad free experience. I’m disappointed and saddened by your choice. RIP HYPE MACHINE
January 6, 2017 3:00 pm
Hi,
one (possibly non-optimal solution) for users is to simply not update the app (of course if you already did, then you’re committed). This is my solution so far, albeit annoying.
I am surprised though that you cannot offer an IAP to remove ads (and/or provide offline-mode). Moreover, on a separate note, how about adding a “dis-like” or “don’t put this song in my feed again” button for paid users ? 🙂
Thanks. HM is generally a fantastic service !
January 12, 2017 4:25 am
As an up-too-now happy user, I’m going to say good bye to hype machine! Nice job completely ruining your service guys!
Good thing I just got spotify
February 24, 2017 8:03 am
OFFLINE MODE WAS THE BEST THING YOU HAD! So seriously, nice job ruining hm for good
February 24, 2017 8:04 am