Spotify has once again taken aim at Apple Music, this time via a series of newly launched radio shows that the Swedish streaming service hopes will compete with Zane Lowe’s Beats One offerings.
The two new shows both offer special insight into the minds of famed musicians. The first, called AM/PM, will feature artists such as famed French electronic producer Jean Michel Jarre and Terry Hall of iconic ska band The Specials, among others, talking about the music that they listen to before and after a day spent creating new sounds. The second new show, Secret Genius, will be used to showcase the stories of the producers and songwriters behind some of the world’s biggest hits, including big names like British producer James Blake.
Unlike traditional radio-formatted shows, the new original series are available for on-demand playback, and come segmented in short clips which clock in at under five minutes each.
Though the service did launch the two new shows with relatively big names, it still has a ways to go with the new Beats One contenders. Apple already has extended interviews with the world’s biggest names in music — artists like Drake and Adele — under its belt, and routinely premieres some of the world’s most-anticipated music via its internet radio service.
Still, as the war for streaming supremacy rages on, with each service gaining approximately a million new paid subscribers per month — Spotify recently reported it had reached 35 million paying members — any competition that involves new projects is good for consumers.
Whether or not either of the shows will continue long term remains to be seen, but it will likely have to do with listener response on the streaming service.
“There’s an experimental edge to what we’re doing: Let’s try this out and give it a go,” Spotify’s head of original content Rob Fitzpatrick said to Music Ally. “These are ways of testing out ideas.”
