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Spotify's answer to Beats 1 is a series of artist-hosted radio shows

Spotify's answer to Beats 1 is a series of artist-hosted radio shows

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Swedish streaming service Spotify is launching two new radio shows today, both of which feature musicians talking about the kind of music that they like listening to while they're making their art. The first, AM/PM, will feature artists like electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre and Terry Hall of ska icons The Specials talking about the music they listen to in the mornings before work, and in the evenings after a day spent creating. The second, Secret Genius, speaks to the songwriters and producers behind major songs, and features the actually-pretty-well-known James Blake, among others.

The shows aren't the first of Spotify's "Originals" radio productions, but they feel like something of a response to Apple's Beats 1 Radio station, a chance for Apple Music's major rival to inject some personality into its streaming service. They may lack the big names that have shown up to chat with Beats 1 DJs — there's no extended Drake or Adele interviews — but they do promise an insight into the routines of up-and-coming artists like James Blake, visionaries like Jean-Michel Jarre, and legends like De La Soul set to appear in the future. Perhaps less enjoyably for American listeners, however, there's also a surprising number of mid-2000s British indie bands appearing as guests, including the Kaiser Chiefs and the Maccabees — making AM/PM feel a little like the kind of show the NME would put on around 2008.