Apple gearing up for Beats 1 Radio debut

It may not be easy to get excited about a new radio station these days. But when it is the Apple-backed Beats 1 Radio component of the upcoming Apple Music service, we can expect a lot of interest.

Former BBC DJ, Zane Lowe, who makes up one third of the initial triumverate of DJs curating the sound of Beats1 (from NY, LA and London, you know, the epicentres of cool music), is hyping up his first on air interview. Lowe will be chatting up iconic rapper and known Dr. Dre cohort, Eminem, as his very first guest. How the world has changed. Eminem famously embarked on a lawsuit against iTunes back in 2009.

That case was eventually settled, and now Eminem is helping kick off Apple's biggest music play since it launched iTunes and the iPod over a decade ago.

In other Apple Music related news, Taylor Swift finally decided to allow her latest album 1989 on Apple's streaming music service after all. The pop star tweeted, "After the events of this week, I've decided to put 1989 on Apple Music...and happily so." Apple Music kicks off in the US on June 30.

Swift response: Apple to pay artists during Music trial period

Apple has reconsidered its initial approach to the Apple Music trial period after Taylor Swift wrote an open letter imploring Apple to pay musicians for their music during the three-month trial period that the new music service will be available for free.

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Taylor Swift won't release her '1989' album on Apple Music

Taylor Swift isn't just unhappy with how Spotify does its business. This time, she's refusing to work with Apple on its new streaming service, Apple Music. In an open letter addressed to the company, Swift reasons she doesn't want to make her 1989 album available on the service because they won't be paying the artists or producers during the three-month trial period when it launches. She says she's worried about the young talents who are counting on those initial singles to stay afloat. Swift thinks it's unfair for Apple to have people work for nothing  when they have money to spare. 

We're not sure what Apple would plan to do after this but the company has yet to respond to her letter. The company initially promised to pay higher than the normal rate to compensate for the trial period but we're wondering if that'll be enough if the big acts start to pull out their stuff. 

Source: Taylor Swift | Via: Engadget 

The reason behind DJ Zane Lowe’s move to Apple

It was evident when BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe announced he was moving to Apple that it had something to do with the Cupertino-based company’s new music platform. What wasn’t clear was what he was doing exactly. Curate playlists for them? Well, with the announcement of Apple Music we could see that he will be the main man for Apple’s new Beats 1, live radio station. The first-ever radio station from Apple will pump out music 24/7 to over 100 countries starting June 30^th. He’ll be fronting the show in Los Angeles, Ebro Darden will be doing that from New York, and Julie Adenuga from London. Beats 1 will be free for all listeners. It won’t be hidden behind the subscription paywall. So, users on iOS and Android will be able to listen to Lowe and his fellow DJs dish out the latest tunes from popular artists and up-and-coming musicians.

Source: Engadget