Eddy Cue and Jimmy Iovine at Code Conference in 2014
Apple Music may be planning to release as many as 10 original series this year, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports in a new profile of Apple’s Jimmy Iovine. The piece also describes more video-centric features in the iOS 11 version of Apple’s Music app than we’ve seen so far.
The two most prominent original series we’ve seen Apple Music promote so far include Planet of the Apps and Carpool Karaoke, although neither have been released yet. Carpool Karaoke has been pushed back to ‘later this year’, however, while Planet of the Apps is due out this spring.
Apple Music could release as many as 10 original series by the end of the year, including will.i.am’s Planet of the Apps and several documentaries. Iovine won’t say what they are, but people familiar with the matter say two are about the legendary hip-hop labels Bad Boy Records and Cash Money Records while another is about music impresario Clive Davis. “For a music streaming service,” Iovine says, “we’re building a very decent slate.”
The Clive Davis bit mentioned likely refers to the documentary rights Apple acquired recently. The Bad Boy Records bit mentioned refers to a new P. Diddy documentary announced this morning:
Live Nation Productions announced today that Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A Bad Boy Story is coming exclusively to Apple Music. The film will have its World Premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival and will be available to watch on Apple Music June 25, 2017.
The piece also references the long-rumored series based loosely on Beats Music co-founder and artist Dr. Dre:
For the moment, he’s mostly focused on music-related video, including a possible sequel to R. Kelly’s rap opera Trapped in the Closet. Iovine has had talks with Warner Bros. Television and is developing another show loosely based on the life of his longtime business partner Dr. Dre.
Longer term, more content that doesn’t focus on music is a possibility including involvement with director J.J. Abrams:
Eventually he plans to go beyond music and has discussed possible ideas with his friend Brian Grazer, producer of Empire and Genius, and director J.J. Abrams. “Apple Music is nowhere near complete in my head,” he says.
The profile also teases out a tidbit about the next version of Apple Music, likely in iOS 11:
When Apple introduces the next version of its smartphone software iOS later this year, the company plans to unveil a new edition of the Music app that better showcases video.
We’ve already seen a preview of how Apple Music original video content including Carpool Karaoke and Planet of the Apps will look in the Apple Music app, although this description sounds more involved than the new video section previewed so far.
Finally, there’s this interesting detail about Jimmy Iovine potentially selling Beats Music to Netflix before Apple bought it:
Before selling Beats Music to Apple, Iovine spoke with Netflix. He’d seen firsthand how much it would cost for his music service to keep the lights on (let alone actually make money), and he would have had to raise money and dilute his share in the business. Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos told Iovine the company wasn’t ready for music, but Iovine didn’t surrender his belief that music and video are now inextricably linked.
You can read the full piece here.
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