Billboard gets a Guided By Voices recommendation during early testing.
Apple Music, which combines on-demand streaming, a 24-7 global radio station and a connect function for bonus content and direct-to-fan engagement, won’t launch until the end of the month, but Billboard got a sneak peek at the new service at the June 8 Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.
Some 20 minutes of playtime yielded these observations:
1. Your musical taste as thumbprint: Like the finger-recognition unlock function on the iPhone 6, the initial setup for Apple Music takes a composite of your music DNA. After choosing a minimum of three overarching genres, the streaming service, its radio function and the connect icon, is curated to your individual tastes and learns as you dive deeper into the music library. So, for example, entering that you like rock, alternative and indie rock spit out a playlist that kicked off with Guided By Voices’ “Echos Myron” off of 1994's Bee Thousand.