Spotify-rival Beats Music to land in the US first and tipped to make an appearance at CES 2014.
Rapper, producer and headphone-maker Dr Dre is set to take on Spotify, iTunes Radio, Google Play Music All Access and a whole host of other music streaming services with Beats Music.
Previously known as Daisy after what Beats calls the first digital, computerised song, CEO of Beats Music Ian Rogers announced via a blog post that users can start picking usernames at BeatsMusic.com ahead of a US launch in January.
Rogers also added that it will be giving access to a ‘few artists and other influencers’ to get some early feedback.
The Beats music streaming service idea was originally sparked by the company’s purchase of on-demand subscription service MOG. Music industry veteran Jimmy Iovine who heads up the service always planned to combine the Beats brand with MOG’s streaming technologies to form what is now known as Beats Music.
There had been rumours earlier this year that Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook
and Beats CEO Jimmy Iovine met in February to discuss a plan to launch a
collaborative music-streaming service. Since then, Apple has launched
its own iTunes Radio music streaming service.
Beats Music has already raised over $60 million in funding from investors that include Warner Music owner Len Blavatnik. With Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor as Chief Creative Officer for the service, Beats Music aims to separate itself from competition by combining the human touch with discovery algorithms.
Jimmy Iovine has already enlisted top artists, DJs and other music experts to create playlists for subscribers.
US mobile network operator AT&T is tipped to partner with Beats Music at launch and could bundle the service with smartphones and tablets.
Likely to work on a subscription based service, Beats has not revealed how much it will cost to sign up and whether there
will be the option to pay on a monthly or yearly basis.
There’s no news either on when we can expect to see Beats Music in the UK. If you head to the site there is a message that simply reads,”The next chapter in digital music is coming to your area soon’.
Here’s hoping Dre doesn’t keep us hanging too long.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
