diff --git a/conda/meta.yaml b/conda/meta.yaml
index f568fcd36d742600edc4b9bbff32486466b3c67b..ca26dc15de766e1d68350bf41ba0088e7e3565d3 100644
--- a/conda/meta.yaml
+++ b/conda/meta.yaml
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ requirements:
     - pyzmq
     - simplejson
     - six
-    - beat.backend.python >1.6
+    - beat.backend.python >=1.6.0a0
     - matplotlib
     - pillow
 
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 474bfded7b6584aa02bcc6a9d8a65ded6384199b..4f35af4d2b2b13fa8d8278529e7c035b3288da59 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-beat.backend.python
+beat.backend.python>=1.6.0a0
 docker
 docopt
 graphviz