Spotify has added a new feature called "In Residence," which consists of podcast-like radio shows curated by musical artists. The service appears to be an attempt to compete on some level with Apple Music's Beats 1 radio station, although the Spotify shows are not aired live.
As the music streaming wars continue to heat up, streaming services are looking to find ways to differentiate themselves from the competition. One of the most successfully-received aspects of Apple's recently-launched streaming music service, Apple Music, has been its Beats 1 radio station. Airing live 24/7, the station is curated by influential former BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe and features guest hosts from a wide variety of genres, including Drake, Pharrell Williams, Dr. Dre, St. Vincent, Ezra Koenig and Josh Homme.
It appears Spotify is now launching its own radio service of sorts to compete with Beats 1. The company's new In Residence feature consists of various artists who host podcast-like shows in which they both speak and play favorite music, generally culled from within their own genres. The first four In Residence artists have already been announced, and they include soul group Jungle, Grime MC Big Narstie, electronic duo Tonga, which boasts The Streets' Mike Skinner as one of its members, and Jonesey's Jukebox, helmed by former Sex Pistols member Steve Jones.
The shows are available in the usual Spotify playlist format, as opposed to Beats 1, which airs live. The advantage of Spotify is that users can immediately access and view all tracks, which their curator of choice is recommending, rather than having to wait for them to play live one after the other as they would on Beats. Various dedicated Twitter accounts, however, list each song played on Beats in real-time, so interested listeners with a lack of patience can always resort to those listings.
The artists featured so far on Spotify In Residence don't compare in commercial popularity to those on Beats 1, which features several longstanding multi-platinum hit-makers as opposed to the quirkier, more niche musicians on Spotify's new offering. It's the early days of the feature, however, and Spotify may just be testing the waters before considering adding more well-known artists to the mix.
