Following the announcement that Trent Reznor was on-board as chief creative officer, Dr. Dre’s Beats Music streaming service will be launching January 21 for $9.99 a month. Spotify, of course, has both a free option (with commercials), and a Premium option, also for $9.99.
As a competitor to Thom Yorke and David Byrne’s least favorite streaming service Spotify, Beats Music will be available both on the web and through iOS and Android apps. The subscription will allow subscribers to use Beats Music on up to three different devices. AT&T will also offer its customers a family plan for $14.99 that will allow the service to be used on 10 devices. Similar to Spotify, the streaming service will allow subscribers to download unlimited songs for local playback.
What apparently sets the service apart from its competitors is in the smart ways it can recommend songs. Using a combination of curation and algorithms to recommend songs, the service is said to be able to create playlists based on your mood through filling out blanks to create sentences. It remains unclear how well all of this will work, but it’s not long now until we find out.
