Apple exec Jimmy Iovine has lent weight to a WSJ report that Apple plans to offer scripted TV shows to Apple Music subscribers by the end of the year. The Hollywood Reporter reports Iovine telling TV critics that the company’s streaming music service needed to go beyond songs in order to grow.
Iovine specifically confirmed that video content offered by the service would not be exclusively focused on the music industry …
The hope for Apple is that it will be better able to compete with streaming music competitors like Spotify and Pandora, which are largely free for users: “We’re fighting ‘free.’ So a simple utility where, ‘here’s all the songs, here’s all the music, give me $10 and we’re cool,’ is not going to scale.”
Hollywood Reporter suggests that Vital Signs, a ‘dark drama’ series produced by – and starring – Dr Dre might be among the shows offered. The show is said to have been made for, and financed by, Apple.
At Apple Music, what we’re trying to create is an entire cultural, pop cultural experience, and that happens to include audio and video. If South Park walks into my office, I am not going to say you’re not musicians, you know? We’re going to do whatever hits popular culture smack on the nose.
Apple recently acquired the rights to Carpool Karaoke, and is working on a reality TV show focused on competitive app development, Planet of the Apps.
Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
