| Cult of Mac

Zane Lowe discusses future of radio DJs in age of streaming

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Things are looking good for Beats One and leading DJ Zane Lowe, one of the world's top radio personalities.
Things are looking good for Beats One and leading DJ Zane Lowe, one of the world's top radio personalities.
Photo: Apple

Beats 1 Radio host Zane Lowe says he’s excited that Apple Music’s competitors are starting to rip off his live streaming radio show.

Lowe, who left the BBC’s Radio 1 to lead Beats 1 Radio, said in a recent interview that he still questions how his radio show fits in with the music scene. In the age of social media where artists can interact directly with fans, radio hosts don’t seem like a necessity, but Spotify and YouTube Music are planning to launch radio shows of their own and Lowe is ready to welcome them to the league.

Apple Music’s new ads highlight the best of British music

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apple-music
Grab the latest update from the Play Store now.
Photo: Apple

Apple has published a new series of ads for its music streaming service and just like its last ads for AirPods, the new spots focus on the U.K. market.

The two new Apple Music ads originally aired during the BRIT awards last month, but Apple just added them to its YouTube channel. Beats 1 radio host Julie Adenuga narrates the ads which highlight a bevy of British artists while talking about Apple Music’s best features.

Check ’em out:

Drake’s Views racks up 250 million streams on Apple Music

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Apple Music and Drake
Let's hear it for high-res Drake tracks.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s big bet on Drake is paying off huge for both sides and shattering records in the process.

Drake’s new album Views is only available on Apple Music, but it’s already been streamed over 250 million times in its first week and his album sales are on pace to be the biggest release by a male artist since Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience.

Beats 1 Radio and other Apple services are down

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It's not just you, Beats 1 Radio is down
It's not just you, Beats 1 radio is down.
Photo: Apple

Fans hoping to catch MTV’s announcement of this year’s VMA nominees on Beats 1 this morning got a rude awakening as Apple servers crashed right before the artists were revealed.

We’ve been trying to access Beats 1 radio all morning but keep getting “Request timed out” errors on all our devices. Other services have been impacted as well: People on Twitter have reported a number of issues with Apple services, including problems accessing the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iTunes Match.

Here’s a list of Apple services affected:

Why Apple’s Beats 1 radio station is great, and you should tune in

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Things are looking good for Beats One and leading DJ Zane Lowe, one of the world's top radio personalities.
Things are looking good for Beats 1 and top DJ Zane Lowe, one of the world's top radio personalities.
Photo: Apple

So far, Beats 1 has been absolutely great. I’m a fan, and it’s been less than 24 hours!

Apple’s new global, 24/7 radio station is everything I hoped for — a discovery-oriented platform showcasing what’s new and what’s good. Of all the features of Apple’s big update to its Music services, Beats 1 is what I most looked forward to.

“Our genre is ‘great,'” explained DJ Zane Lowe on his opening show Tuesday. “That’s all we’re looking for.”

And that’s all I’m looking for too. In fact, I’m already obsessed with A$AP Rocky, who was played on Lowe’s show and I’d never heard before (yeah, I know I’m sad). A$AP Rocky is just one of half-a-dozen new artists I’ve tagged in iTunes for further exploration, including Beck, who I thought I hated.

I’m actually worried how I’m going to keep up. But isn’t this what radio is for?