Starting today, Universal Music Group is now offering a playlist service called Digster, which allows UMG employees (“music editors”) to create thematic playlists which users can then stream. The music on the playlists is not limited to UMG songs however, which allows the music editors to offer a personal style for other Spotify users to connect with.
The playlists come in three versions: “Live” playlists are regularly updated and ever-evolving (the editor functions like a DJ), “Digster By” are more catered toward one specific artist and changed infrequently and the “Standard” playlists are unchangeable after they are published. All playlists can be streamed for both paying and non-paying users, and each track has an option next to it to buy on iTunes, though the playlists are not for sale in their entirety.
The move by UMG is unprecedented, as the conglomerate record labels have yet to interact so heavily with previous streaming services like Pandora and Rhapsody.
[via Billboard.biz]
