| Cult of Mac

Beats 1 DJs move to FaceTime for musician interviews

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Zane
Zane Lowe will interview musicians over FaceTime for the foreseeable future.
Photo: Apple

Beats 1 DJs on Apple Music are being forced to work from home during the coronavirus pandemic and while they’re stuck inside, they’re turning to FaceTime to get the job done.

Apple revealed Monday that its radio show hosts will record interviews with musicians and other artists from their homes by using FaceTime on iPhone.

Apple employs a team of people to transcribe lyrics for Apple Music

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Streaming services like Apple Music dominate the US music market
This is one anecdote from a new Wired article about Apple Music.
Photo: Apple

Apple employs a team of people “listening to music and transcribing the lyrics,” says Oliver Schusser, head of Apple Music.

“We don’t get [lyrics] from the usual sites,” Schusser says, explaining that Apple doesn’t trust crowdsourcing to give it the right answers for its new synced lyrics feature.

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.

How Jimmy Iovine plans to save Apple Music’s ‘soul’

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Iovine
Apple Music boss Jimmy Iovine at WWDC 2015.
Photo: Apple

Apple Music has already racked up more than 30 million paid subscribers, but according to boss Jimmy Iovine, the company still has a long way to go before its satisfied with its streaming service.

The former Beats CEO turned Apple exec sat down for a new interview along with Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe to talk about the future of the service. During the wide-ranging discussion, the Apple Music team revealed how it thinks music streaming has to change in order to dominate free rivals like YouTube.

Zane Lowe: ‘We had just three months to build Beats 1’

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Zane Lowe
Zane Lowe and others talk Beats 1 on the second anniversary of its launch.
Photo: Apple

This month marks the second year of Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio station. To mark the occasion, Apple DJs Zane Lowe, Ebro Darden and Julie Adenuga have given an interview with High Snobiety, in which they look back at the successes and challenges faced by Apple Music over the past couple of years.

Fifth Avenue Apple store to get Beats 1 broadcasting booth

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Beats 1 could soon be broadcasting from an Apple store.
Beats 1 could soon be broadcasting from an Apple store.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s iconic retail store on Fifth Avenue will reopen with a Beats 1 broadcasting booth after being renovated, according to a new report.

The booth could become a new home for Beats 1 DJ Ebro Darden, who currently broadcasts from another location in Manhattan — or it could host occasional musical guests.

Zane Lowe says Apple is working on new Beats stations

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Zane Lowe
Beats 2, 3, 4, and 5 may be in the works.
Photo: Apple

Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe says that Apple is “working on” new Beats radio stations, although won’t introduce them until, “they feel it’s right.”

While Lowe doesn’t provide more details, it’s one of the few things he addresses directly in an interview during which he sidesteps plenty of other questions — suggesting it’s something that Apple’s happy to be talked about to some extent.

Apple Music execs discuss the future of music streaming

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Bozoma Saint John
Bozoma Saint John is in charge of hyping Apple Music.
Photo: Apple

The future of Apple Music will be a lot less focused on music and more about pop culture, according to three of Apple’s top employees working on the project.

Beats One DJ Zane Lowe, marketing guru Bozoma Saint John and Apple Music’s head of content, Larry Jackson, sat down for a three-headed interview to discuss what fans can expect from the streaming service. Music will always be part of Apple Music, but Lowe revealed that other forms of entertainment are coming soon.

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.