LOS ANGELES (Hypebot) – We've been hearing about Beats subscription music service for almost a year, but soon we may be able to experience it. Beats Music will launch “within the next few months” in the United States, Luke Wood, president and COO of the company told The Next Web. Other details are also starting to emerge – some of which the company confirms and others which come from a handful of industry insiders who have seen early versions of the unlaunched music service.
The Echo Nest meets Hype Machine?
Beats has confirmed that curated playlists are a core feature. “We’re going to focus really heavily on playlists, because that’s how we consume music and that’s how most people consume music,” Woods corroborated.
In fact, both curation and personalization will be baked into every corner of Beats. “We’re talking about real depth of personalization and knowing who I am, who you are, what we’re listening to, what we like, what we’ve listened to before and then offering up music that is highly relevant to our taste profile,” Woods added. " If you really love music, we want something that can go deep with you for a really long time. And that requires a perfect harmony between the algorithm and human curation. Between the man and the machine."
From Insiders Who've Seen Beats
Several sources, who have seen early versions of Beats, say it looks impressive. "They've borrowed the best features from other (music) services, and put them together in a really interesting way," one source told Hypebot. "Beats offers an impressive range of music discovery. I like what I saw," said another.
No Freemium
Unlike Spotify and Rdio who offer a range of options that allow free listening, Beats Music will be pay only, after a (yet to be determined) limited free trial, according to sources.
