Beats 1 launched triumphantly with Apple Music, but in a new interview with Beats DJ Zane Lowe, the radio presenter admits he’s “not sure” whether Beats 1 is a crucial part of the Apple Music package — although he hopes “there’s a place for it.”
Lowe was being interviewed as part of the Radio Festival 2015 in London, slightly awkwardly by his former BBC boss, the controller of Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra, Ben Cooper.
“We’re working [out where Beats 1 fits into Apple Music],” Lowe said. “Time will tell. We’ve been going three months, I don’t have the answers. I hope that there’s a place for it… This is in progress, and over time we’ll find out exactly why [it’s needed].”
He also discussed his decision to join Apple in February this year.
“The job wasn’t advertised, the job came along at a moment which was very unexpected because I was very happy [at the BBC],” he said. “When I said yes [to the job], I felt like I said ‘no’, and then ‘yes’, and then ‘I’m not sure’. Leaving someone like the BBC is not [a] cut and dried [decision].”
It’s definitely interesting to hear Lowe’s thoughts on Beats 1. Artistically, I’d suggest that the radio station has been a success for Apple in the first three months of Apple Music. It’s understandable that Lowe, like everyone involved with the enterprise, would be a bit on edge at the moment, however — as the three-month free trial comes to an end and Apple sees exactly how many people will willingly pay for its streaming music service.
Given that it presumably took a sizeable salary offer to get Lowe to relocate to Los Angeles to work for Apple, this is presumably when Apple starts to find out whether its investment has paid off.
Not that the company’s short of a couple of bucks to take a risk!
Source: Telegraph
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
10 responses to “Zane Lowe: I hope there’s a place for Beats 1 in the future”
I’ll take Beats 01 over terrestrial radio any day. I do however wish there was a little bit more variety, feels very hip-hop heavy at times. The curated shows are great, the fact that you can go back and download the playlist from the show is awesome. I’ve discovered a ton of new music thanks to the talented DJs. However, I HATE the inability to add or favorite tracks that stream on Beats 01 that are not available in Apple Music. And until Apple Music adds Sonos integration, my money is going to Spotify. But I will always listen to Beats radio.
Yeah, they need more “channels/stations” with different genres. Every time I give it a try it seems there is always some hip-hop song on. I just can’t stand hip-hop, so I end up listening to my own music. If they can get more genre specific stations I would definitely tune in more often.
Only time I listened to Beats 1 is when it was playing before the Apple event stream. It’s just not my thing. I’m more than happy with the ability to pick and chose my own music.
Well, you take a risk when you take any job. Usually it works out, sometimes it does not. I did try to like Beats 1. Its an amazing idea. However, it seems to concentrate on music genres that I don’t care for, like Hip-Hop. Of course, tons of people like Hip-Hop, so I am betting that many people like Beats 1. Long term though, Apple needs to have a diverse selection of genres, and not just the one. There should be a Pop version, a Rock version, a Country version, and so on.
Interesting how certain companies can somehow hire foreign labor just like that. Hollywood does it, as if we don’t have even Britons taking away American jobs and now DJs too. Hey Apple, what’s wrong with American DJs???
Wot about that Ebro guy?
Beats 1 is an Internet radio station. That’s it. It is totally NOT integral to Apple Music.
If Apple set up a huge array of stations, that would be a strategy. (A stupid one, but a strategy nonetheless.)
But this was simply a PR gimmick to have another angle for the media to write about, which worked. And they could keep it going, because the cost is, or should be, near zero. But it is certainly not an integral part of Apple Music. If it was discontinued tomorrow, there would be a day of media because anything Apple does like this would get that attention, then everyone would just go about their business with the 5 billion other Internet radio stations and curated playlists.
I like everything about Beats 1 except the music.
Haha, so true.
I don’t just want Beats1, I want Beats2, Beats3, Beats4-6. Is the THE reason to use Apple Music for me.