When Beats Music was launched earlier this year, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek took the new service hard in court. It’s not enough to “slap a celebrity brand on” a product without unique selling points to be successful. This had already been seen in the failed attempts of Microsoft and Nokia, it continued. What Ek blindly didn’t see with egocentricity is the concept, the philosophy behind Beats Music. The idea of the music streaming service by Dr. Dre and lovine turns Spotify into a backyard band without a large audience on closer inspection.
We took a closer look at Beats Music’s iOS app to see what Apple loves about the service. After all, it’s long been clear that the iGroup is targeting the service, among other things. Not because of the number of users, but because of the concept.
Already at the first start of the app it is noticeable: Beats Music is different (Aha?). Different because the makers, in contrast to alternative music streaming portals, turn the tables. The user does not enter in a search field which music he wants to hear – on the contrary: he gets suggestions which songs he could listen to. Spotify and Co also have a recommendation section, but the main thing is still the search field. But many users don’t even know which music they want to listen to. Others fail because of the title and artists, run the risk of making the same entry day after day. And that’s not the point.
In Beats Music, which can only be used in the USA, users can expect a far-reaching system of musical suggestions and expeditions right from the start. Beats relies on the many years of experience of experts who are always looking for the right titles. The selection is made according to genre, highlights or “Sentence”. The latter is a feature that finds the appropriate playlists based on the current mood and everyday situation.
In this way, Beats has managed to create a powerful and effective system without the need for the user to enter their favourite tracks, and the fresh design adds the finishing touches. Beats Music belongs on the big stage and Apple could draw the curtain.