Beats Music is to launch in the US at the end of this month (January), it has been announced.
The new music streaming service, which is being launched to rival Spotify, has been developed by Interscope/Geffen chairman Jimmy Iovine along with Dr Dre and Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, and will have more than 20 million songs available to stream.
A subscription to the service will cost $9.99, but there will be a free month’s trial when it launches on January 21, and will be available for on iOS, Android, Windows phones and via web browsers, according to a statement released by the company yesterday (January 11).
Beats Music boasts as being a “curator-led” service with the likes of Trent Reznor, Former Pitchfork Media editor-in-chief Scott Plagenhoef, Detroit radio music director Suzy Cole and Former Rhino Records A&R Mason Williams, along with magazines such as Rolling Stone and Pitchfork, creating playlists.
The service also has a ‘Just For You’ feature that will deliver a personalised selection of albums and tracks based on the users’ music preference, the time of day and current activity. The app will send at least four notifications a day alerting the user to music it thinks will match their mood.
To combat the criticism Spotify has been receiving from artists, Beats Music plan to pay the same royalty fee for every track on its database. “Beats Music is based on the belief that all music has value and this concept was instilled in every step of its development. We want it to be just as meaningful for artists as it is for fans,” said Trent Reznor. “We’re committed to providing revenue to artists, while helping to strengthen the connection with their fans.”
It is currently unclear when the service will be rolled out across Europe.
