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Apple Music 1, previously branded as Beats 1, is a 24/7
music radio Music radio is a radio format in which music is the main broadcast content. After television replaced old time radio's dramatic content, music formats became dominant in many countries. Radio drama and comedy continue, often on public radio. Mu ...
station owned and operated by
Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...
It is accessible through
iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
or the Apple Music app on a computer, smartphone or tablet, smart speaker (such as the Apple HomePod), and through the Apple Music web browser app. Apple Music 1 airs a mix of pop, rap and indie music. Prime-time presenters include
Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...
,
Ebro Darden Ibrahim Jamil "Ebro" Darden (born March 17, 1975) is an American radio personality, broadcaster, and DJ. Until 2014, he was Vice President of Programming for Emmis Communications' New York contemporary urban station WQHT (Hot 97). He is current ...
and Matt Wilkinson. Apple Music Hits airs a mixed
Hot adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...
/ Adult hits format, offering a full catalog of the biggest songs from the '80s, '90s, and 2000s. Apple Music Country offers a mix of country songs old and new. Apple Music Radio is streamed at 64kbit/s and 256kbit/s, utilising
HTTP Live Streaming HTTP Live Streaming (also known as HLS) is an HTTP-based adaptive bitrate streaming communications protocol developed by Apple Inc. and released in 2009. Support for the protocol is widespread in media players, web browsers, mobile devices, and st ...
protocol and the HE-AAC audio codec, powered by StreamS Live Encoder.


History

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
bought audio equipment maker
Beats Electronics Beats Electronics LLC (also known as Beats by Dr. Dre, or simply Beats by Dre) is an American consumer audio products manufacturer headquartered in Culver City, California. The company was founded by music producer Dr. Dre and record company exe ...
in 2014, which included the ownership of Beats' former music service
Beats Music Beats Music was a subscription-based online music streaming service owned by the Beats Electronics division of Apple Inc. The service combined algorithm-based personalization with expert music suggestions from a variety of sources. Developmen ...
, and made Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers responsible for the
iTunes Radio iTunes Radio was an Internet radio service by Apple Inc. that let users listen to automatically generated playlists based on direct input as well as collected data on music preferences. It was launched on September 18, 2013, as part of iOS 7 a ...
service. ''
Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...
'' later reported that Apple was planning to merge the two services. Apple also hired Zane Lowe as a music curator. The day of Beats 1's launch, ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' revealed that they had been given pre-recorded examples of Beats 1 programming, and said it "suggests an eclectic mix of programming to fill the 24-hours-a-day of broadcasting." On September 29, 2015, Zane Lowe said he wasn't sure that
Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...
needed Beats 1, but said "I hope that there's a place for it, however I really doubt it." In December 2015, rumors spread that Apple would expand on the Beats 1 brand and give it sister stations, after Apple registered trademarks for four additional Beats stations. In September 2016, Apple refreshed the Apple Music interface with the release of iTunes 12.5 and
iOS 10 iOS 10 is the iOS version history, tenth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 9. It was announced at the company's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, Worldwide Developers Conf ...
. Beats 1 reportedly became harder to get to, due to the clunky interface of iOS 10's Music app. In March 2017, Apple claimed that Beats 1 was "the biggest radio station in the world" and beat all other music stations in concurrent listeners. In March 2020, Beats 1 transitioned to remote broadcasting from the respective homes of the radio hosts in light of the coronavirus outbreak. In May 2020, London headline host
Julie Adenuga Julie Oluwatoyin Chidozie Adenuga (born 15 July 1988) is a British broadcaster, radio host and the creator of Don't Trust The Internet. She was one of the three lead DJs for Beats 1, Apple Inc., Apple's 24/7 radio station as part of Apple Music. ...
announced she was leaving Beats 1 after her years on the station since its inception. On August 18, 2020, Apple announced the rebranding of Beats 1 to Apple Music 1 and the launch of two new radio stations, Apple Music Hits and Apple Music Country, featuring exclusive original shows from the world's top music hosts and artists.


Reception

Reception for the Apple-run station has been mixed.
Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
analyzed the track list of songs that were aired on Beats 1 in its second week. "Though Beats 1 is an eclectic mix of genres, some listeners have complained that it plays too much hip-hop." However, they did note that "there is a reasonable amount of diversity..."
Mashable Mashable is a digital media platform, news website and entertainment company founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005. History Mashable was founded by Pete Cashmore while living in Aberdeen, Scotland, in July 2005. Early iterations of the site were a ...
complained of " dynamic-range compression, which squashes the volume range of audio" and also said, "The variety can be a blessing and a curse...it jumps all over the musical spectrum...If I wasn't committed to listening to nothing but Beats 1 for this review, I would have turned it off."
9to5Mac The Apple community is a group of people interested in Apple Inc. and its products, who report information in various media. Generally this has evolved into a proliferation of websites, but latterly has also expanded into podcasts (both audio and ...
had a generally positive review of the station, saying, "Although Beats 1 is advertised as a 24/7 station, it isn't really true. The schedule is set up on a 12 hour basis, so for the other 12 hours it plays a recording of the last 12 hours...This is frustrating for me, being based in the UK. If I listen in the afternoon and in the following morning, I am likely to hear the same shows repeated...In summary, Beats 1 as a concept is great... It needs some work on the software side and the production side to make it really shine." Jason Cipriani of ''
Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
'' wrote, "I haven't liked every song played on Beats 1, but the personal bond I instantly felt with each DJ has been strong enough for me to resist the urge to go back to a lifeless algorithm." ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' said, "the tech community has been heaping praise on Beats 1...Internet-savvy people have fallen head over heels for old-school
monoculture In agriculture, monoculture is the practice of growing one crop species in a field at a time. Monoculture is widely used in intensive farming and in organic farming: both a 1,000-hectare/acre cornfield and a 10-ha/acre field of organic kale are ...
." Rob Price of ''
Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...
'' said, "So far, I've loved it. I was never much of a radio listener before, and I've enjoyed the eclectic selection it has thrown up." Kirk McElhearn wrote, "Beats 1 radio is clearly a
loss-leader A loss leader (also leader) is a pricing strategy where a product is sold at a price below its market cost to stimulate other sales of more profitable goods or services. With this sales promotion/marketing strategy, a "leader" is any popular artic ...
. Apple has designed it to draw people into Apple Music and get them interested. But the station is designed for just one demographic: the young, pop/rock/hip-hop listener. As such, it's a non starter for a lot of Apple Music customers, and that's a shame." ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''s review heavily criticized
Jaden Smith Jaden Christopher Syre Smith (born July 8, 1998), also known mononymously as Jaden, is an American rapper, singer, and actor. He has received various accolades, including a Teen Choice Award, an MTV Movie Award, a BET Award and a Young Artist ...
's ''MSFTS Frequency'' program and
A-Trak Alain Macklovitch (born March 30, 1982), known by his stage name A-Trak, is a Canadian DJ, record producer, and record executive. He came to prominence in the late 2000s as an international club DJ and remix artist, known for incorporating highly ...
's show ''Day Off'', but was generally positive of their other programming. After Larry Jackson,
Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...
's Head of Programming, claimed Beats 1 is the number one music station worldwide, media.info warned readers of believing
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
's claims without listenership numbers.


Format

Apple Music 1 broadcasts a mix of music focusing on new music and artists. Unlike the playlists for the "stations" on
iTunes Radio iTunes Radio was an Internet radio service by Apple Inc. that let users listen to automatically generated playlists based on direct input as well as collected data on music preferences. It was launched on September 18, 2013, as part of iOS 7 a ...
, The Next Web claims, "The overarching aim of Beats 1 is to curate cool new music, whether it be new talent or fresh music from established artists." Brooke Reese hosts a show called ''Chart'', which has music premieres and countdowns of popular music in general on
Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...
. It features both full songs in addition to snippets and previews. However, most shows focus on specific
music genres A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from '' musical form'' and musical style, although in practice these terms are som ...
or musical cultures. Beats 1 aired Apple's annual
Apple Music Festival The Apple Music Festival (formerly known as the iTunes Festival) was a concert series held by Apple, Inc. and inaugurated in 2007. Free tickets were given to Apple Music, iTunes and DICE users who lived in the United Kingdom, through localized pr ...
(which was formerly known as the iTunes Festival) as well as interviews with popular American music artists such as
Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...
,
Bruno Mars Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is known for his stage performances, retro showmanship, and for performing in a wide range of musical s ...
and
Chance the Rapper Chancelor Johnathan Bennett (born April 16, 1993), known professionally as Chance the Rapper, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Chicago, Bennett released his debut mixtape '' 10 Day'' in 2012. He ...
. Apple Music Festival was cancelled in 2017. Beats 1 and Apple Music as a whole wanted to focus more on introducing new artists and creating original content. Apple Music 1 also lets some musicians - such as Lady Gaga,
Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (; born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian-born rapper based in the United States. She is known for her musical versatility, animated flow in her rapping, alter egos and accent ...
,
Frank Ocean Christopher Francis "Frank" Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987), is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper. His works are noted by music critics for featuring avant-garde styles and introspective, elliptical lyrics. Ocean ...
and
the Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, Romance (love), ...
- host their own shows on the station. In an interview with
Digital Trends Digital Trends is a Portland, Oregon-based tech news, lifestyle, and information website that publishes news, reviews, guides, how-to articles, descriptive videos and podcasts about technology and consumer electronics products. With offices i ...
' Keith Nelson Jr., Zane Lowe praised the format, saying, "We've been overwhelmed by...how great the artists are at doing it." On Blackout Tuesday, June 2, 2020, Apple Music 1 (then known as Beats 1) replaced its entire schedule with a stream featuring Black musicians and artists.


Sister stations

In 2015, Apple secured trademarks allowing them to create up to four sister stations for Beats 1. In August 2020, Apple announced its first two sister stations: Apple Music Hits and Apple Music Country.


See also

*
Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...
*
iTunes Radio iTunes Radio was an Internet radio service by Apple Inc. that let users listen to automatically generated playlists based on direct input as well as collected data on music preferences. It was launched on September 18, 2013, as part of iOS 7 a ...
* '' Blonded Radio'' *''
Memento Mori ''Memento mori'' (Latin for 'remember that you ave todie'Queen Radio'' * ''
Time Crisis with Ezra Koenig ''Time Crisis'' (referred to as ''Time Crisis with Ezra Koenig'') is a fortnightly internet radio show hosted by Ezra Koenig and Jake Longstreth. The show began airing on July 12, 2015 on Apple Music's radio service, Beats 1 (now known as Apple Mu ...
'' *
List of Internet radio stations This is a list of Internet radio stations, including traditional broadcast stations which stream programming over the Internet as well as Internet-only stations. General BBC Radio France Indian Internet Radios * Boxout.fm * R ...


References

{{Reflist, 2


External links


Official website
Apple Inc. services Products introduced in 2015 Internet radio in the United States