Beats headphones, in a press conference earlier, officially announced a brand new streaming music service that's tentatively scheduled to launch later this year.
We reported this new partnership, but the details weren't quite firmed up yet. In fact, the final name has yet to be determined, but it's going by the nickname "Daisy" at the moment.
The new venture is a combination of many things. First, the music service that Beats acquired last summer, MOG, will serve as the foundation.
But to help steer this new venture is Ian Rogers, formerly big boss at Topspin (though he will remain associated with the music marketing firm as a member of the board).
The Daisy chain of command
Rogers will serve as Daisy's CEO. And joining him is Trent Reznor, of Nine Inch Nails fame, who will serve as the chief creative officer. Reznor's presence is an important one, since he underlines one of the core focuses of the new service.
Daisy aims to be like similar music streaming services, including Spotify and Pandora, but the key difference is how it will better connect artists with their fans. While this notion was not explained in explicit detail, one aspect is a layer of intelligent curation, which stems from music a trusted source.
Given how the aforementioned services already recommend music based upon one's tastes and habits, it remains to be seen how Daisy does it different or better, though it was noted that Reznor will help solve artist issues.
Again, the prospect was not explored in full, though one possibility is that Reznor (and perhaps Beats Co-Founder Dr. Dre, albeit unofficially) could possibly entice those artists who have yet to share their music with a streaming service.
Brand new Beat
The software that will drive Daisy will come to iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 8 (no word yet if a Blackberry/Blackberry 10 iteration is in the works), as well as desktops.
When TechRardar asked if Daisy would be just in America, and if there are any plans for a global front, Rogers stated that, despite a mountain of technical and licensing issues, the plans was to go as global "as fast as possible".
And once more, building on Beats' brand recognition would be a primary step towards this end, with the company citing its established popularity in France and the UK.
