Beats Music officially launched today. Users can now download a free trial of the app on their iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows Phone. Once the initial seven-day trial is up, the paid subscription begins. The service costs $10 a month for an individual plan and $15 for a family plan (which allows for four separate users).
As previously reported, the service (formerly dubbed "Daisy") was developed by Interscope/Geffen/A&M chairman Jimmy Iovine along with Dr. Dre, Beats Electronics president Luke Wood and Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor. The subscription offers a catalog of more than 20 million fully licensed songs from both major and independent labels.
Rather than depend solely on algorithms, Beats will curate recommendations from a pool of editors, guest programmers and even through games. "My phone knows where I'm at, what I'm up to, what temperature it is," Reznor said in an interview with The New York Times. "It might even start to recognize locations I visit, patterns of motion. What if music could be collected in little parcels and served up to me effortlessly?"
With this idea in mind, Reznor designed an automated listening game called "Right Now," which allows users to create a playlist using four different variables: place, activity, person and genre. "'I'm at the beach & feel like pre-partying with my friends to dance-pop,' for example, yields the Chemical Brothers, Lady Gaga and Janet Jackson," the New York Times explained.
For critics of streaming services such as Spotify, Beats also promises higher royalty rates to artists. Do you plan to try out the app? Let us know in the comments section below!
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