Apple on Tuesday began officially broadcasting Beats 1, its live, worldwide Internet radio station built into the iOS 8.4 Music app intended to promote new artists and songs, enhancing discovery for music lovers.
The first broadcast was hosted by Los Angeles DJ Zane Lowe, who is scheduled to stay on the air until 2 p.m. Eastern. London's Julie Adenuga will come on at 3 p.m., while New York's Ebro Darden will take over at 6. The first celebrity show will be hosted by St. Vincent at 10.
To inaugurate the station, Lowe chose to play "City" by Manchester band Spring King. Next was the track "Dreams" by Beck, followed by "Gosh" from Jamie xx.
Beats 1 can be found through the Music app's Radio tab, and is free to all iOS listeners. Tapping on the Beats logo brings up daily schedule information. Support should reach Macs and PCs with a later iTunes update.
The service is set to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Beyond St. Vincent, some other celebrity shows will be hosted by Drake, Disclosure, Josh Homme, Pharrell Williams, and Elton John.
Update: Beats 1 suffered a brief outage Tuesday afternoon. Services were restored in less than an hour.