Music curation is suddenly the hot topic when it comes to streaming music services after the reports that it will be the distinguishing feature of the yet-to-be-launched Beats Music. Yes, it seems like song suggestions from a real human being trump that of an algorithm, at least on paper, and the threat of this new feature by Beats has caused both Spotify and Rdio to respond with curation features of their own.
But just making suggestions isn’t enough, according to a secret Beats Music training document. Their belief is that the way you make suggestions is just as important as the suggestions themselves. In an article on Gigaom.com, a number of the significant rules for curation are spelled out. Among them:
- “Avoid overly clever transitions or organizing principles that will be lost on the average listener (unless the playlist itself is geared toward connoisseurs).
- Talking down to listeners is not desired. Avoid elitism.
- Playlists should provide the best listening experience within a specific context.”
It seems that most Beats Music curators providing playlists will be freelancers, so the company definitely wants to make sure that it spells out the ground rules for what it believes to be the desired user experience. Apparently there will be some celebrity curators as well who won’t have the same restrictions, since their main attraction is their unique tastes, but everyone else is to be held on a fairly short leash.
According to the document, the curators will be given access to a web authoring system that will allow them to listen to songs, them compile them into the desired playlist. This can be based on an artist, genre of music, year or everyday activity of the listener, but is ultimately based around a given demographic. The playlists are then limited to 70 minutes or less, which corresponds to what’s supposed to be the average commute time in the US.
While not much else is known about the other features of Beats Music yet, it can be said that they really get this part of offering human-designed playlists. It’s the listeners who will make or break the service, and they have to come first above the ego of the curator. There’s going to be a lot of competition in the streaming space soon with Apple’s iRadio rumored to launch next month, so Beats Music is only going to get one chance at getting this right. It’s hard to say if other services offering the same feature have thought it through as Beats seems to have done, but if this is to be the killer feature everyone believes it’s going to be, they should.
If Beats Music launches by the end of the year as rumored, we’ll have our answer about the importance of curation, and the company’s view of it, in the early days of 2014.
DISCLAIMER: I know Ian Rogers, the CEO of Beats Music, and have interviewed him in one of my books – “Music 3.0: A Survival Guide To Making Music In The Internet Age 2nd edition.” I’ve not communicated with him since he’s joined Beats Music.
