The competition between Apple Music and Spotify is hotting up. Both streaming services let users stream their favourite artists, albums and playlists on a variety of devices – from iPhone and Android, to Amazon Echo smart speakers and TV apps.
As the year comes to a close, the streaming rivals are desperate to differentiate between one another to become your new go-to choice for streaming a Christmas Party playlist, or provide some thumping bass to get your through your next morning run. Apple Music has already unveiled its Music Replay feature, which collates a playlist of your most played from the last twelve months. This will be updated in the coming weeks as you discover new tracks between now and the fireworks on New Year’s Eve. Even better, to make up for lost time, Apple lets you retroactively create playlists for 2018, 2017, and 2016 too – one year earlier than you’re able to with Spotify.
Apple has announced the first-ever Apple Music Awards, which will be hosted in the Steve Jobs Theatre at its spaceship-like headquarters in Cupertino, California. The show, which will be live-streamed for anyone who wants to tune-in, will see Billie Eilish handed the Artist of the Year gong. Eilish is due to perform at the event.
Other winners picked-out by the judges include Lizzo, as Breakthrough Artist of the Year, while streaming data was used to determine that Lil Nas X was worthy of the Song of the Year award for his track Old Town Road.
And because it’s Apple, the awards themselves have been revealed in a slick iPhone-esque product video. The company has created a design that shows-off the same custom silicon wafers it uses in its Apple A13 chipset suspended in polished glass. The body of the trophy is made from anodised aluminium.
Spotify has already revealed plans to host its own award show – also a first for the streaming company. The show won’t arrive until March 2020 and will be held in Mexico City. Unlike Apple Music, which uses a panel of judges to determine at least some of its categories, Spotify will go entirely on user data.
Announcing the Spotify Awards 2020, it said: “Your plays, patterns, and habits will help determine the award categories, finalists, and winners, for the Spotify Awards by providing a true reflection of what fans are listening to. You can get excited for an awards ceremony that actually speaks to what the people are streaming.”