5 ms·

They've been running Beats 1 for the last 5 years (now rebranding to just Apple Music 1). I like the idea of a pop & pop-adjacent radio station with a lot of di

They've been running Beats 1 for the last 5 years (now rebranding to just Apple Music 1). I like the idea of a pop & pop-adjacent radio station with a lot of different shows for different subgenres (it's obviously patterned after BBC Radio 1), but it never seemed to have the "right" mix of variety, and unlike Radio 1 it didn't really have any tentpole stuff to center around (like e.g. Essential Mix), just a lot of random short-lived celebrity-presented shows. Adding country and pop hits stations isn't exactly going to improve it, but I assume that's for people who found it a bit too left-field. Kind of astonished it's quietly been on air for so long, and I wonder if the rebranding means they're actually going to revitalize it in some way or if this is just going to lead to them quietly dropping the more interesting aspects of it.

kjakm 6y ago
In terms of “tentpole” shows Elton John has hosted his for a long time and it’s fantastic. Josh Homme also does a great show (which seems to run in “seasons” rather than every week).
parasubvert 6y ago
Beats 1 has some incredible shows but the live stream was always a bit odd due to the eclectic mix. I hope this is a tweak - they had a really interesting take on radio compared to say SiriusXM.
rwc 6y ago
My expectation is the renewed interest in radio stations is part of an attempt to make the rumored Apple One offering more attractive. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-13/apple-readies-apple-one-subscription-bundles-to-boost-services https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-13/apple-rea...
tarentel 6y ago
I listened to it a lot when they launched but the problem with it is they really treat their shows as live radio. There's no way to save them or subscribe and get notifications when they're live. There is no way to follow them. Searching for them is weird. Discovery is also awkward. There were and probably still are a lot of good shows but good luck figuring it all out.
- bredren 6y ago
  I was listening when Beats 1 came on air, the song they played just prior to the start was Music For Airports by Brian Eno. That influenced me to include it in our Burning Man art this past year. [1] I've subscribed to Apple Music since the start, but apart from a massive catalog, I can't help but feel that it is a neglected product. Apple put Jimmy Iovine in charge of that business, presumably because the company needed industry legitimacy and the connections he had. However, I do not think Iovine or his lieutenants were music "fans", which are people who for personal reasons intentionally seek out new artists, listen to them and share their picks with friends. I think this lack of familiarity with the customer and how to connect with them through mobile software products led to the state it is in now. What is strange to me is that Apple Music as an application has not improved. The views do not pre-cache, so they are the slowest loading of any app on my iPhone. Apple Music often fails to perform searches properly. Despite the volume of data Apple had from my music preferences _before_ Apple Music existed, the recommendation engine is still no good, and the music curation lacks any semblance of personality. When I ask Siri to play a song, it sometimes feels like Apple Music tries to play a version of the song that has a lower licensing fee than the one I'm actually after. This is total conjecture, but I would not be surprised. That Spotify has done as well as it has is more a credit to the failure of Apple Music to materialize into something at all representing the vast beauty and detail of music. I occasionally have tuned into Beats 1, especially if there was an artist interview I wanted to hear. But I really did not like the vibe of Zane Lowe. I felt like he was always fawning over the artists and he interrupts them while they're talking. Hopefully, these minor radio changes are indicative of a larger changes coming to the Apple Music product as a whole. [1] https://skylarkcollective.com/blog/ https://skylarkcollective.com/blog/
  - finnh 6y ago
    To say that Jimmy Iovine isn't a music fan ... that's a weird thing to say.
    - bredren 6y ago
      I don’t think he looks at music and browsing for new music in a remotely similar way to an average person.
pwinnski 6y ago
The biggest complaint I've heard from US listeners about Beats1 is that there's too much hip-hop/rap. So now they have stations for people who don't like hip-hop/rap. Presumably some of the various celebrity shows are going to move to the two new stations, while others will stay.

kjakm 6y ago

In terms of “tentpole” shows Elton John has hosted his for a long time and it’s fantastic. Josh Homme also does a great show (which seems to run in “seasons” rather than every week).

parasubvert 6y ago

Beats 1 has some incredible shows but the live stream was always a bit odd due to the eclectic mix. I hope this is a tweak - they had a really interesting take on radio compared to say SiriusXM.

rwc 6y ago

My expectation is the renewed interest in radio stations is part of an attempt to make the rumored Apple One offering more attractive. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-13/apple-readies-apple-one-subscription-bundles-to-boost-services https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-13/apple-rea...

tarentel 6y ago

I listened to it a lot when they launched but the problem with it is they really treat their shows as live radio. There's no way to save them or subscribe and get notifications when they're live. There is no way to follow them. Searching for them is weird. Discovery is also awkward. There were and probably still are a lot of good shows but good luck figuring it all out.

bredren 6y ago
I was listening when Beats 1 came on air, the song they played just prior to the start was Music For Airports by Brian Eno. That influenced me to include it in our Burning Man art this past year. [1] I've subscribed to Apple Music since the start, but apart from a massive catalog, I can't help but feel that it is a neglected product. Apple put Jimmy Iovine in charge of that business, presumably because the company needed industry legitimacy and the connections he had. However, I do not think Iovine or his lieutenants were music "fans", which are people who for personal reasons intentionally seek out new artists, listen to them and share their picks with friends. I think this lack of familiarity with the customer and how to connect with them through mobile software products led to the state it is in now. What is strange to me is that Apple Music as an application has not improved. The views do not pre-cache, so they are the slowest loading of any app on my iPhone. Apple Music often fails to perform searches properly. Despite the volume of data Apple had from my music preferences _before_ Apple Music existed, the recommendation engine is still no good, and the music curation lacks any semblance of personality. When I ask Siri to play a song, it sometimes feels like Apple Music tries to play a version of the song that has a lower licensing fee than the one I'm actually after. This is total conjecture, but I would not be surprised. That Spotify has done as well as it has is more a credit to the failure of Apple Music to materialize into something at all representing the vast beauty and detail of music. I occasionally have tuned into Beats 1, especially if there was an artist interview I wanted to hear. But I really did not like the vibe of Zane Lowe. I felt like he was always fawning over the artists and he interrupts them while they're talking. Hopefully, these minor radio changes are indicative of a larger changes coming to the Apple Music product as a whole. [1] https://skylarkcollective.com/blog/ https://skylarkcollective.com/blog/
- finnh 6y ago
  To say that Jimmy Iovine isn't a music fan ... that's a weird thing to say.
  - bredren 6y ago
    I don’t think he looks at music and browsing for new music in a remotely similar way to an average person.

pwinnski 6y ago

The biggest complaint I've heard from US listeners about Beats1 is that there's too much hip-hop/rap. So now they have stations for people who don't like hip-hop/rap. Presumably some of the various celebrity shows are going to move to the two new stations, while others will stay.