Beats Music will be officially launched on January 21st, supporting iOS, Android and Windows devices, as well as web-based streaming. The price is set at $9.99 per month, and that cash gets you unlimited streaming and downloads from the catalog counting more than 20 million songs. These downloads are your to keep as long as you remain a member (pay the monthly cost).
The unique feature, according to the company, comes in the form of expert-curated playlists. Beats will have a staff of music junkies to help its users find the best songs for every occasion or mood. The interface will allows users to fill-in the blanks to create sentences like “I’m at a party and feel like BBQing with my BFF to dance pop,” and let the algorithm and those experts serve the appropriate tunes.
Moreover, The Verge says that the built-in search technology will differentiate between the original songs and their remix versions. In that sense searching for The Beatles’ “Yesterday” will first return the original song while also showing the button for accessing other versions.
AT&T, as we’ve told you, will be the exclusive carrier to offer the Beats Music service. It will pitch it towards the family plan holders who will be able to subscribe to Beats for $14.99 per month, allowing 5 users to stream songs to ten different devices. In comparison, the standard $9.99/month plan is made for a single user who can access the service from three devices.
Finally, let’s mention Beats’ marketing plans. According to The New York Times, the company plans to have “regular plugs on The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” prominent placement in Target stores, and launch a Super Bowl ad, all in an effort to get some of the existing Pandora, Rdio and Spotify users. It has also cornered Sonos to include support for the service on its wireless speaker systems…