The Apple Music Festival is totally free. Provided you can get a ticket, that is! Photo: Apple
Apple has announced the lineup for its upcoming Apple Music Festival, which will feature performances by Pharrell Williams, One Direction, Florence + The Machine and others.
The concerts take place in London over 10 days from September 19 to September 28.
Jimmy Iovine, Bono, Steve Jobs and The Edge Photo: Apple
With the purchase of Beats Electronics and the subsequent launch of Apple Music, Jimmy Iovine quickly became Apple’s best hope for saving the music industry. But in a new interview, the Beats co-founder says it’s just not cool to be into music anymore.
To help ignite the scene, Iovine and Dre created an Academy for Arts Technology and the Business of Innovation at USC, and while the music and tech mogul says the program has already become ultra-competitive to get into, it might not be enough to change young people’s minds from wanting to become the next Larry Page instead of the next Jimmy Page.
Dr. Dre's third album was one of the most anticipated hip-hop albums in years. Photo: Apple
Dr. Dre’s long-awaited third album, Compton, was streamed a massive 25 million times on Apple Music, and had half a million iTunes downloads in its first week, according to new figures released by Apple.
Apple is dead set on showing how much it values artists. Photo: Apple
Three new Apple Music ads show off Cupertino’s creative cool, highlighting musical acts and touting the tagline, “All the artists you love and are about to love, all in one place.”
Apple Music is good, but here are a few simple ways it could be great. Photo: Apple
Yesterday’s iTunes update brought a few improvements to Apple Music as it lives on the Mac and PC. The minor tweaks and bug fixes are always welcome, but Apple Music still has a long way to go before the experience is where it should be, particularly in iTunes.
Maybe the coolest, most tech savvy president ever. Photo: The White House
“Welcome to Spotify, Mr. President,” tweeted the streaming music giant Friday morning. That’s right: The president of the United States just shared two vacation playlists — and he didn’t use Apple Music.
The two music lists, titled “The President’s Summer Playlist: Day” and “The President’s Summer Playlist: Night,” contain 20 songs each, showing an eclectic taste with a diverse artist representation, including the Isley Brothers, Bob Dylan, Otis Redding and (ugh) Coldplay.
A new iOS 8 update is here. Photo: Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
We’re eagerly anticipating iOS 9 next month, but Apple’s got a few more fixes to give us in iOS 8.4.1, which is likely the final mobile upgrade to iOS 8.
Apple released iOS 8.4.1 to the public this morning, bringing with it a number of performance enhancements and bug fixes, plus some nice updates for Apple Music and Beats 1.
Tired of Apple Music's playlists? Try something even more indie. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Apple Music has some amazing playlists created just for you, with humans behind the scenes making perfect mixes of music that fits your specific style and music tastes.
You can make your own playlists, too, and share them out to friends and family, but what if you want to see other people’s playlists? There’s just no way to pop on to Apple Music and see what playlists strangers are making.
Now, however, a new website called Playlist Hunt brings you the next best thing: a site dedicated to sharing and playing playlists by its members.
Hip-hop is the most-played genre on Beats 1. Photo: Apple
Beats 1 radio has been arguably the best feature to come out of Apple’s foray into the streaming music world. With its fabulous lineup of rotating DJs and artist radio shows, Beats 1 has become a great place to discover new music, but many users have complained the station focuses too much on hip-hop and plays the same songs too often.
To identify Beats 1’s true taste in music, a new study analyzed data on more than 12,000 songs played on the station from early July to early August. After crunching the numbers, they found Beats 1 has something other radio stations lack: scarcity.
Jimmy Iovine talks Apple Music at WWDC 2015. Photo: Apple
Once Apple Music finds its groove there’s going to be no way for rivals to compete with the service, according to Beats co-founder and Apple exec Jimmy Iovine.
“Curation is a big thing to us, and no one is going to be able to catch us or do it better,” Iovine says in a new interview, in which he stresses Apple Music’s not-so-secret weapon — human focus.
Apple Music's ad banner in New York's Times Square. Photo: Zane Lowe/Twitter
Apple Music may have attracted criticism from big name Apple pundits recently, but it’s still killing it when it comes to subscribers.
According to a new interview with Eddy Cue, Apple has secured 11 million trial members so far, with 2 million of these opting for the $14.99 monthly family plan rather than the $9.99 standard one.
Apple Music has its share of big-name supporters from the world of music, but Oasis’ Noel Gallagher isn’t one of them.
The outspoken musician — who has taken issue with just about every topic under the sun at some time or other — criticized Apple Music for its Beats 1 radio station and its “Connect” feature.
Even Taylor Swift loves Apple Music. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Apple’s creation of the Beats 1 radio station has been one of the best parts about the company’s new Apple Music streaming service, but it might not be Apple’s only station for much longer.
As part of the deal Apple signed with major labels ahead of launch, Apple Music has the option to expand its lineup of Beats radio stations nearly at will, according to a new report citing sources with knowledge of the situation.
Bad blood continues with Spotify, too. Photo: Vanity Fair
Taylor Swift shares a few more details about her Apple Music beef and subsequent reconciliation in the latest issue of Vanity Fair, while reserving her harshest words for Apple’s streaming rival Spotify.
Apple's most eagerly-anticipated exclusive yet? Photo: Apple/Dr. Dre
Apple Music may have come under fire from big-name Apple commentators but you can’t say that the service hasn’t delivered when it comes to artist exclusives.
Over the weekend, Dr. Dre announced on his Beats 1 show The Pharmacy what, for long-time hip-hop fans, may be the most exciting exclusive of all: His first album since 1999’s The Chronic 2001 is debuting on Apple Music and iTunes this Friday.
Apple Music uses a less accurate method for song matching than iTunes Match. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
If you’ve been having problems with Apple Music and iCloud Music Library incorrectly matching songs in your library, you’re far from the only one. It turns out the reason is that Apple Music doesn’t use the same method for matching songs you own as iTunes Match does. This results in significantly more errors and frustrated users.
Though iTunes Match used acoustic fingerprinting to identify songs you own and match them for all of your devices, Apple Music uses the metadata of those songs. That means if you change something as simple as the title and artist, it could match to an entirely different song despite the unchanged audio.
Moving to Apple Music is just a click away. Photo: Move To Apple
Maybe you’re like me, and you’re interested in trying Apple Music. Maybe, though, you feel locked in to Rdio or Spotify, because over the years you’ve set up an extensive library of favorites and playlists. Favorites and playlists you count on.
Well, good news! Migrating your whole life to Apple Music is just $4.99 away.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere is playing the iPhone card for all it's worth.
In great news for music lovers, T-Mobile is adding Apple Music to its “Music Freedom” program, meaning customers can now listen to Apple’s streaming music service without using up their monthly data allowance.
T-Mobile already offers Spotify, Pandora, Google Music and more than two dozen other streaming services on Music Freedom, and users were apparently clamoring for Apple Music to be added to the list.
Apple Music is playing all the right notes. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Some of the streaming numbers on Apple Music’s biggest tracks — particularly on newer hip-hop songs — are said to be rivalling the number of listens on Spotify, according to a new report.
Apple Music has only been around for a month, but music label insiders claim it has already surprised people by attracting more than 10 million subscribers.
Keith Richards' video for "Troubled" is an Apple Music exclusive. Photo: Apple
After exclusively debuting Drake’s Meek Mill diss track “Charged Up” last night on Beats 1, Apple Music scored another excellent exclusive today, only this time from Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards.
Harsh terms, but probably not illegal. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Apple Music’s edge over streaming services like Spotify, Rdio and Pandora means that Apple gets to take a 30 percent cut of rivals’ App Store subscriptions — thereby forcing them to jack up their prices or lose money.
It’s the subject of a current FTC antitrust investigation, but according to Rutgers University law professor Michael Carrier, while it may be harsh, it’s probably not illegal.
For Drake, talking up Apple Music at WWDC was just the beginning. Photo: Apple
Drake showed himself to be smarter than many musicians (or at least to have better advisers) when he ducked out on the opportunity to be part of Jay Z’s Tidal debacle and instead went full-bore with representing Apple Music.
From posing with his Apple Watch Edition and rocking a sweet vintage Apple jacket at the Worldwide Developers Conference, to having his own show on Beats 1, Drake’s about as Cupertino as it gets these days. And according to the new track he dropped over the weekend, he’s more than happy about it — even if he’s still “got love” for the folks at Tidal.