It’s a war out there in the music streaming world.
Market newcomers Apple and TIDAL are doing everything possible to keep pace with gigants Spotify. Jay Z’s TIDAL on Wednesday announced its plans to offer a family subscription plan, a week after Apple launched Apple Music.
In such a saturated and competitive scene, each new feature rolled out by one service is starting to feel like a knee-jerk reaction to its competitors to stand out from the herd.
But it seems like things are taking a new direction.
Rdio on Tuesday announced its launch of specially curated music stations. Employing somewhat of a tripartite approach to building playlists, Rdio’s aims to make the music streaming experience more tailor-made by incorporating its own team of music programmers with influential music record labels and the user.
https://twitter.com/Lush995fm/status/618995997478375424
A major perk of Rdio’s label and influencer stations is that it features the likes of homegrown labels Darker Than Wax and Kittywu Records. Not to be confused with “Top # Tracks in Singapore” playlists, these stations have been curated with its influencer’s flavour in mind.
“Rdio is committed to making music discovery fun, easy and personal,” says Rdio’s CEO Anthony Bay.
In keeping with their modus operandi, KittyWu’s label station features international psychedelic artists like Foals, Radiohead and Sonic Youth. Expect to find local favourites In Each Hand a Cutlass and Monster Cat in there as well.
R&B-heavy label Darker Than Wax stamps its black music influences in its curated station – you will find hip hop mainstays like Flying Lotus and A Tribe Called Quest. In true “Personally Curated Playlist” fashion, the station features blues rock outfit The Black Keys too. How did that end up there?!
Facebook to launch music service?
As if you couldn’t already decide between music streaming services, it’s only about to get harder.
Rumour has it Facebook is set to embark on some form of music related venture. And while the social network top dogs have swiftly rubbished speculations that a music streaming service is in the works, Facebook has never been one to shy away from taking over the internet.
.@Facebook scotches rumours of imminent music streaming launch http://t.co/MqV7rXJGu9 pic.twitter.com/G72T3Uh5EP
— The Drum (@TheDrum) July 10, 2015
And while content curation is on everyone’s lips, Facebook’s early plans involve a revenue-generating music video structure to rival YouTube and VEVO.
We don’t know exactly what’s happening over in the Facebook camp, but one thing’s for sure – content curation is the name of the game.
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Image Credits: The Inquirer, Rdio
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