Beats Music is launching next week in the US, but GigaOm journalist Janko Roettgers found his way in to a beta version of its website, and has published screenshots and first impressions.
Big images for artist profiles are one thing that jumps out (nobody mention new Myspace!) but the piece focuses more on what’s missing: no sign of the long-promised Topspin merchandise tie-in; not many playlists created by artists – although launch partner Target does have an ‘Exfoliating: Songs to scrub out to’ playlist; and no lean-back radio-style option, with Beats’ collection of curated playlists seemingly taking that role.
Artist biographies are provided by Rovi, which may be a missed opportunity to work with someone like BandPage to give artists control over how their bio reads on the service. The caveat to all this, though, is that Beats Music hasn’t launched yet: even though there’s just a week to go, more features and content may be added between now and 21 January.
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…