UPDATED 06:53 EST / OCTOBER 08 2013

NEWS

iTunes Radio Prepping to Go Abroad as Beats Music Gears Up for Launch

The launch of iOS 7 gave birth to Apple’s own music streaming service.  Though it’s something music-loving fanbois are quite excited about, only those in the US are enjoying the service for now.  But that may soon change.

According to reports, Apple will be launching iTunes Radio in the UK and Canada by early 2014, which will place it far ahead of Pandora, its number one contender in the music streaming business.

Pandora is already available in Australia and New Zealand, and Apple plans to invade those two countries early next year.  By making  iTunes Radio available in the UK and Canada next year, that would put them ahead of Pandora in the battle for global music streaming domination.

Apple entered the music streaming business making all the the right moves, forging agreements for international rights with Vivendi SA (VIV)’s Universal Music Group and other record companies, while Pandora has to rely on rights granted by government entities, hence its services are limited to the US, New Zealand and Australia.

There is no doubt Apple can trump other music streaming services, especially when it’s using the same roll-out strategy it used when introducing the iTunes Store, which is now available in more than 175 countries.  It’s not hard to imagine that iTunes Radio will one day be available in that many countries too.

Speaking of music streaming, Beats announced that its music streaming service, Beats Music, will be available in the US “within the next few months.”  Luke Wood, president and COO of the company, made the announcement and provided some hints as to what makes the service stand out from other streaming services.

According to Wood, Beats Music will be available on the Web, Android and iOS, and soon after the launch, on Windows 8 as well.  Wood also stated that previous reports are true and that Beats Music is focusing on playlists.

And finally, Wood stated that what would make Beats Music stand out is that it will be based around “a very specific idea,” and that it will be all about curation so listeners won’t have a hard time finding the music they want.

“We’re talking about real depth of personalization and knowing who I am, who you are, what we’re listening to, what we like, what we’ve listened to before and then offering up music that is highly relevant to our taste profile,” Wood stated.

Beats Music has been in the works long before the company acquired MOG, a subscription-based music service, back in July of last year.  Though Beats is entering an already congested marketplace, its plan of making things easier to find might actually get listeners interested in the service.  Let’s just hope the subscription fee will not be as expensive as their headsets :)

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