The BBC is developing a new music streaming service that sounds more like a companion to Spotify than a direct competitor. Outlined in the broadcaster’s “British. Bold, Creative” report is a plan to rejigger its BBC Playlister feature into a playlist-centric service that would give listeners unfettered access to the 50,000-plus songs available in the BBC catalog during any given month.
That number of available tracks is a far cry from the 30 million-or-so songs offered on leading streamers like Spotify and Rdio, but as the report notes, the plan is to have listeners do their discovering on the Beeb, and then take their custom playlists — or ones curated by BBC tastemakers — to another service.
“Our music product would be the only one in the market which would be fully open and integrated with other digital providers,” the report boasts. “Users will be able to transfer playlists between digital music products, and access them after BBC availability has expired through third-party providers.”
With this new service, the BBC wants to reinvent its role as the “trusted guide” for U.K. music listeners, “enabling the discovery of more of all the music we play across the schedules of our many radio stations and TV channels.” There will be a focus on new U.K. music across all genres, with support for both indie and major label acts, signed and unsigned alike.
The service will be unique in that it will include exclusive tracks from the BBC’s vast library of live performances. The BBC also wants its service to be artist-friendly and is “working to license the produce in a way that benefits” them “fairly.”
If the proposed service proves successful, the BBC says it may look to expand globally.
