Apple Music 1, previously branded as Beats 1, is a 24/7
music radio station owned and operated by
Apple Inc. It is accessible through
iTunes
iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
or the
Apple Music
Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...
app on a computer, smartphone or tablet, smart speaker (such as the Apple HomePod), and through the Apple Music web browser app.
While a paid subscription is not needed, users are required to sign in with an Apple ID account to listen to the free radio stations. Apple Music Radio is streamed at 64 kbit/s and 256 kbit/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 ...
protocol and the
HE-AAC audio codec, powered by StreamS Live Encoder.
Currently, Apple Music operates 6 live global radio stations:
* Apple Music 1 airs a mix of pop, rap and indie music. Prime-time presenters include
Zane Lowe
Alexander Zane Reed Lowe (born 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 through pr ...
,
Ebro Darden 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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
/
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 Música Uno (released on December 10, 2024) airs Latin music genres including Música Mexicana, reggaetón, tropical, Latin pop, and more.
* Apple Music Club (released on December 10, 2024) focuses on dance and electronic music and club culture.
* Apple Music Chill (released on December 10, 2024) is described as “an escape, a refuge, a sanctuary in sound — a place listeners can turn to throughout their day.”
History
Apple
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
bought audio equipment maker
Beats Electronics in 2014, which included the ownership of Beats' former music service
Beats Music, and made Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers responsible for the
iTunes Radio service. ''
Business Insider
''Business Insider'' (stylized in all caps: BUSINESS INSIDER; known from 2021 to 2023 as INSIDER) is a New York City–based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Inside ...
'' 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 Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' 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 an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...
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. 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 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.
On December 10, 2024, Apple launches three new radio stations, Apple Música Uno, Apple Music Club, and Apple Music Chill, 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 Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...
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 Online newspaper, news website, digital media platform and entertainment company founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005.
History
Mashable was founded by Pete Cashmore while living in Aberdeen, Scotland, in July 2004. Early iterations o ...
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
''9to5Mac'' is a website covering news and rumors about Apple Inc. and its products. Founded by Seth Weintraub, the website is the oldest in Weintraub's 9to5 network of tech blogs, which also includes ''9to5Google'', ''9to5Toys'', ''DroneDJ'', ...
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'' 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 advertis ...
'' 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. Monocultures increase ease and efficiency in planting, managing, and harvesting crops short-term, often with the help of machinery. However, monocultur ...
."
Rob Price of ''
Business Insider
''Business Insider'' (stylized in all caps: BUSINESS INSIDER; known from 2021 to 2023 as INSIDER) is a New York City–based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Inside ...
'' 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. 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 Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
''s review heavily criticized
Jaden Smith's ''MSFTS Frequency'' program and
A-Trak's show ''Day Off'', but was generally positive of their other programming.
Format
Apple Music 1 broadcasts a mix of music focusing on new music and artists. Unlike the playlists for the "stations" on
iTunes Radio, 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 an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...
. It features both full songs in addition to snippets and previews. However, most shows focus on specific
music genres or musical cultures.
Beats 1 aired Apple's annual
Apple Music Festival (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. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...
,
Bruno Mars and
Chance the Rapper. 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 rapper, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as the "Queen of Rap" and one of the most influential rappers of all time, she is noted for her ...
,
Frank Ocean
Frank Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987) is an American singer and songwriter. He has been credited by several music journalism, music critics as a pioneer of the alternative R&B genre. Ocean has won two Grammy Awards and a B ...
and
the Weeknd
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (; born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is best known for adding Pop music, pop, electronic music, electronic and hip-hop stylings ...
- host their own shows on the station. In an interview with
Digital Trends' 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.
On December 10, 2024, Apple launched three new stations: Apple Música Uno, Apple Music Club, and Apple Music Chill, expanding the Apple Music Radio lineup to six.
See also
*
Apple Music
Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...
*
iTunes Radio
* ''
Blonded Radio''
*''
''
*''
Queen Radio''
* ''
Time Crisis with Ezra Koenig''
*
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
* RadioJoyAlu ...
Footnotes
References
External links
Official website
{{Apple
Music 1
Products introduced in 2015
Internet radio in the United States