Slacker is the default music streaming service in Tesla vehicles in North America, but Tesla simply calls it “Streaming” in the vehicle. This name made more since when Slacker was the only music streaming service available in Tesla vehicles just a few years ago. However, since then, Tesla has added Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL, YouTube Music, and even SiriusXM, which is coming soon.
Slacker is owned by LiveXLive Media, which purchased Slacker Internet Radio in 2017. However, Slacker’s brand and name were renamed to LiveOne several years ago.
Now, Tesla is making the move as well, and LiveOne will be just another music serivce available in the vehicle. With some Tesla factory builds, such as 2024.26.300, Tesla has replaced Slacker Radio with the LiveOne name and brand.
LiveOne Radio
Like Slacker, LiveOne Radio is free to use and the default music service in vehicles in North America. However, since Tesla includes a more basic version of the streaming service, you can log in with your paid LiveOne account to gain access to additional features.
LiveOne offers a premium subscription for $3.33/mo or $39.99/year (USD). This subscription adds unlimited song skipping and improved audio quality, making it more similar to other music services.
Slacker was only available in Teslas in North America, and we expect this to remain the same with LiveOne.
Slacker Users
For users who use and have an account with Slacker Radio, you should be able to log into LiveOne with your existing Slacker Radio account, without any major issues. Items like favorites, playlists, and anything else you’ve set up should port over. From what we’ve seen, the UI remains the same as well.
It’s not clear when Tesla will transition to LiveOne Radio on other vehicle updates, but it’s possible Tesla is first transitioning new Tesla owners keeping the brand as “Streaming” for existing owners for now. This could avoid confusion for Slacker users who are searching for the orange Streaming icon and wondering why their music app is missing.
We expect Tesla to eventually transition everyone to LiveOne Radio's updated name and logo, but it’s not clear when that will happen. Thanks to our reader, Jordan, for reporting this.
