iTunes Radio To Stream Pre-Release Albums

In an interview this month, Apple's Senior Vice President for Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue said that iTunes Radio will be used to stream and help promote pre-release albums from various artists. The service, which just recently went live, will build on top of the preview streaming offered in the iTunes Store, and aims to help both artists and listeners.

There's not much information about it at this time, but said Cue: "It's a huge improvement to do it on iTunes Radio because you don't go to a store a lot. Hopefully lots of people will be listening to iTunes Radio a lot; from a discovery perspective, it's significantly better." Still, the feature will give artists a potentially larger exposure than they would get elsewhere, and could help boost sales once the album is launched.

iTunes Radio offers users featured station that can be swiped through, with music being accessible simply by tapping on a station. The ability to skip songs and make custom stations is all there, as well as starring songs for content you'd like to hear similar offerings to and tossing songs you don't want to hear again. Songs can be reviewed in a history section, and favorite ones can be bought from the service.

On September 23, it was revealed that a Nissan – Apple partnership was in play, with the auto maker becoming the "exclusive automotive launch partner" for iTunes Radio. Such a designation would continue to apply to Nissan through the rest of this year, and brings exclusive Nissan content through iPad, Apple TV, iPhone, iPod Touch, PC, and Mac.

SOURCE: MacNN