Some scattered thoughts on the first day with Apple Music.
First things first, the thought that keeps coming back to me is this: We are all listening to the same station, to the same DJ, to the same music. We are all experiencing the Apple Music and Beats 1 launch together. In unison. This is a remarkable experience.
The first tick of Apple Music was Apple’s release of iOS 8.4. I got it pretty early in the process, so the download and install took just a few minutes, but my sense is that folks who came along even an hour after the release took as much as an hour to get through the process. To be expected. The Apple Music launch was a major event and everyone was forced to go through the upgrade in order to participate.
With iOS 8.4 installed I fired up my Music app, tapped the Beats 1 Listen Now button, immediately heard Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports. This is clearly music for the holding pen, for folks waiting for the show to begin. In fact, this experience felt very much like sitting in the room at WWDC, waiting for the keynote to start.
There was a bit of mic chatter, then Zane Lowe broke in to make the official launch:
> Alright, man. We gotta kick this whole thing off at some point. We spent the last three months trying to build this radio station and now we can build no more. We must launch.
>
> We’ve had all sorts of ideas about the first song, things that have made statements, things with fanfare, but ultimately, there’s been one song that people keep coming back to. We’ve tested sound to it, I’ve referred to it lyrically when I needed a boost, cause it’s been stressful at times, you know, and exciting and challenging. We’ve even cut demos to it to convince people to continue to support this radio station.
>
> This band put this EP together a few months ago, with little or no fanfare outside of core fans. But they’re building. That’s exactly the kind of story, the kind of record, we need to kick this whole thing off with.
>
> Cause man, it’s not about fanfare. That’s fireworks and a hangover the next day. It’s about quality and consistency.
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> We’re Beats 1. We’re worldwide. And from now on, we’re always on.
And with that, Beats 1 was on the air. First song: City, by Manchester’s Spring King.
And Twitter came alive.
A lot of people I followed, as well as folks who followed me, were listening to the launch, sharing this experience. People around the world. It was truly amazing.
I can’t help but think that Apple has unleashed something important here, a vital addition to the ecosystem. With your upgrade to iTunes 12.2, which came out Tuesday afternoon, you can now listen to Beats 1 and Apple Music on your Mac, on your iPhone, via your Apple Watch and, this fall, on an Android device, if that’s your thing.
One final thought. Is this the end game for Apple Music, or just the beginning? Will Apple use Beats 1 as a base, adding new stations focused on different genres, a la Sirius/XM?
Whatever their next move, this was an incredible start for Apple Music.
There was a bit too much mic chatter at the beginning and too much “Beats 1 Worldwide!” while the music was playing. But this was a big launch, so understand the enthusiasm.
I listened to a bit of Beats… I am DEFINITELY not the target audience here. Kid in the candy store with Music though… so… much… to choose from! I really hope this works in indie bands favor…
I respect your opinion on this but I disagree a bit. I didn’t realize how much I missed actual radio DJs until I tuned in to Beats 1 today. I grew up as a huge fan of radio and over the past 10-20 years radio has walked its long, slow walk to obscurity. With the launch of Beats 1 and the chatty DJs, I felt a swelling of nostalgia inside of me and it brought a big smile to my face.
I found myself adding every song they played to my music library. I found myself swaying in my chair to songs I had not previously heard.
I LOVE Beats 1 and I am looking forward to an explosion of my music library.
Yeah.. It’s pretty great. Even though I’m 50+ I found all the songs very good. Hope for Beat 2 next year (Blues, Jazz and classical anyone?)
And I’m primarily an album listener. The last time I really enjoyed listening to a music radio station was ~1998. But it’s not the in between tracks talking I’m referring to, it was his talking OVER the music that’s kind of a no-no in my book. Again, as an album-first type of listener.
But it’s early days, day one in fact. I’m sure there will be a rhythm to the station soon enough which I’ll be able to decide on.
Supposedly, that’s one of the things that really inspired the service.
Not my type of music, though.
I want to clarify, you’re talking about them talking over the music at the beginning or end of the track, right? They weren’t coming back on the mic and talking during the middle of the track, were they? If it is the former, which is what I expect and what I heard when I was listening, then that is the part I’m referring to. That is how real DJs do their thing. It isn’t about a conversation after the track is done and before the next one goes on. Back in the my day (wow, I feel old now), in the 80s when I listened to a TON of radio, that was how my favorite radio stations did their thing.
It makes it feel like you are at a party and the DJ is playing from the stage. When you have people dancing you still need to talk to them but you never want to shut off the music to do it.
Everyone thinks this is going to be the end of downloaded iTunes music, but it really doesn’t have to turn out that way. With the discovery of all that new music, I’m sure there are going to be a lot of consumers downloading music to own those tracks for good. Too many tech pundits and analysts are always so quick to put an end to something Apple has done. I’m only saying to wait and see how things turn out before hastily saying something is dead or obsolete.
I tried Beats 1 several times, heard one song I liked, one song I could listen to, and 4 that made me switch off the channel. Definitely not their target audience, apparently … Does that qualify me as old at 39?
Apple Music – Radio and Music Re-Invented. Period.
No it’s the “Yeah!” and “Beats 1 Worldwide!” during the middle of the song I’m referring to. It wasn’t my cup of tea. Felt a bit more like club DJing than radio DJing.
I’m gonna give another listen during work today.
“it was his talking OVER the music that’s kind of a no-no in my book”
You can get the full DJ playlist without any talking just by searching for the DJ session and date on beats 1
“Get of my lawn” alert: Has anyone raving about how great Zane Lowe ever heard of a guy named John Peel?!
Yes 🙂
I gave St. Vincent’s Mixtape Delivery Service a go. That’s more like it! Looks like that’s the only program I will be listening to for a while.
Sounds like a good start for the service. I’m definitely interested in hearing new music that isn’t manufactured for children, and that has the variety that I rely on good radio for. I remember listening to Dublab’s Ten Elements show in a previous decade for exactly that. But I’ll be more interested in hearing what Beats 1 sounds like later on, after the first-weeks’ novelty has burned off.
I’ll be checking out Beats1 further. From what I listened to yesterday, about half of the music played was interesting even if I wouldn’t purchase it. That’s actually a better ratio than terrestrial radio for me which I maybe listen to a couple times a year because a car I’m in has it on before I can hook up my phone or I’m out and about and someone else has it on.
The promo inserts in the middle or near the end of songs didn’t bother me so much since I imagine they are there just in case people are snagging the stream, and I can just buy the song or stream it alone to be rid of that.
I’m looking forward to trying out the St Vincent playlist program or see how the requests work, because I have a few to see if they can get in 🙂 (They seem to like their techno/club music — I’ve got a Swedish drum-and-bass prog rock band called Brother Ape to introduce them to.)
Sometimes they WERE talking over the middle of a track (especially over what would otherwise be some pretty lacklustre “solos”), but that was less common.
That’s actually a better ratio than terrestrial radio for me which I maybe listen to a couple times a year because a car I’m in has it on before I can hook up my phone or I’m out and about and someone else has it on.Casquette Huf