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Luckily for Ms. Thomas, managing director of Songza Canada, she had an array of winter-themed Songza playlists on her smartphone to help her pass the time while she waited for things to warm up.

Since launching in Canada in 2012, Songza Media Inc. — a free online music streaming service that offers users curated playlists designed to accompany specific activities — has enjoyed a warm reception from Canadian music fans. The service signed up more than one million users in its first 70 days of operation and now boasts a Canadian user base of more than 2.7 million unique monthly users.

But in 2014, Songza is planning to double down on Canada, where the market for digital streaming services is still in its early stages, by forming a deeper bond with Canadians through new promotions, an expanded team and a fresh take on Canada-specific music playlists.

Songza really came in at a good time in Canada. Canadians are not only very big music fans, but also early adopters of technology

While other music services such as Pandora and Spotify, as well offerings from Apple Inc. and Google Inc., have so far yet to reach Canada, Ms. Thomas said Songza sees opportunity for expansion in the Canadian market, both in terms of users and revenue opportunities.

“The Canadian market is a little bit more open and there’s less direct competition here, so far,” Ms. Thomas said in an interview from the company’s new office in the MaRS Discovery District near the University of Toronto’s downtown campus.

“Songza really came in at a good time in Canada. Canadians are not only very big music fans, but also early adopters of technology … There’s less noise up here in the space so I think that’s one of the reasons it took off.”