News - 30/06/2015

Beats 1 launches as Zane Lowe picks Spring Kings' "City" as his first track

Beats 1 launches as Zane Lowe picks Spring Kings' "City" as his first track

After a couple of technical difficulties pre-launch - the producers were heard discussing last-minute issues in the background - Apple Music’s Beats 1 - a free radio station available worldwide and headed by Zane Lowe - has launched with a bang at 5PM sharp UK time today.

Lowe’s first play was Spring Kings with the track “City”, an emerging Manchester band with less than 4,000 Facebook likes. This was followed by Becks with “Dreams” and Jamie xx with “Gosh”. 

The first tracks played confirm that Beats 1 does not intend on being just a vehicle for mainstream music but will strive to support artists of all kinds as long as the music’s good, presenting an eclectic and challenging mix.

Apple quite frankly "lost face" in the music space due to some questionable choices, especially the misguided release of U2’s album last year, which was “imposed” on iOS users worldwide.

The appointment of Zane Lowe and the decision to hire some of the BBC's best producers as well as a number of other personalities to host shows on Beats 1 shows that Apple could re-gain its music lustre in an entirely non-technical way: through a good old-fashioned radio.

(Andrea Leonelli)

 

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