After more than a decade at BBC Radio 1, well-known DJ personality Zane Lowe has taken a job with Apple in Cupertino, California.
Although the five-time Radio Academy Award winner hasn’t said what he’ll be doing at Apple, he will reportedly work on iTunes Radio.
Plenty of tailored stations are already available through iTunes Radio, but Lowe’s hiring could signal Apple’s plans to incorporate old-school DJ personalities for artist interviews and commentary.
Lowe made a name for himself over the years by surfacing emerging talent and scoring exclusive, wide-ranging interviews with artists like Kanye West, Eminem, Jay Z, Rick Rubin, and Chris Martin.
As a DJ, he’s played massive festivals like Coachella and Glastonbury. For several years at Radio 1, his team spent a month airing interviews and behind-the-scenes looks at albums considered to be masterpieces, such as Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. He’s also a producer who was just recently nominated for a Grammy for his work on Sam Smith’s debut album, The Lonely Hour.
Annie Mac will replace Lowe after his last show airs on March 5th.
Apple has ambitious plans to reinvent the music industry yet again, according to multiple reports. Tim Cook, Eddy Cue, and Beats executives were just recently seen at the Grammys, and an all-new, Beats-inspired iTunes streaming service is expected to come out later this year.
Source: BBC
Via: The Guardian
Alex Heath is a journalist who works for Tech Insider. He’s the former co-host of The CultCast. He has been quoted by the likes of the BBC, KRON 4 News, and books like “ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation.” He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. If you want to pitch a story, share a tip, or just get in touch, additional contact information is available on his personal site. Follow him on Twitter.
2 responses to “Apple scores BBC DJ Zane Lowe to work on iTunes Radio”
Zane Lowe is leaving Radio 1 for Apple and Annie Mac is taking over? This has to be evidence of intelligent design!
I have no idea what he’s going to do for Apple. Apple isn’t a record label and I doubt they can even become one especially since there is already a famous record label called Apple Records. ;-)
Oh, Zane only CO-PRODUCED one song on Sam Smith’s album and it wasn’t even a freakin hit song, it was an afterthought that didn’t make the actual album, it was a bonus song, Restart that he co-wrote and co-produced with someone else. That’s nothing to write home about. The music portion was essentially a VERY simple sequenced drum groove, with a VERY simple chord progression and that’s the extent of it. What a joke.