Apple’s annual Music Festival comes to an end after 10 years

The Apple Music Festival has met its end. Apple told Music Business Worldwide that it won’t be doing its annual London concert series anymore. What first started out as the iTunes Festival, it was the company’s way of trying to get more people to buy album on its service. Streaming music services or any streaming service was still in its infancy when Apple started doing this. And they’ve had some of the biggest stars perform throughout the years including the likes of Adele, Pharrell Williams, The Weeknd, One Direction, Lady Gaga, Oasis, Ed Sheeran, Alicia Keys, etc.

But it looks like the advent of music streaming services, Apple is rethinking its strategy in the music space. They need people to keep subscribing to its Apple Music service and while a yearly festival might attract attention, it’s not enough to sustain listeners. Lately, the company has started to support individual shows like those of Haim, DJ Khaled, and Arcade Fire. They even sponsored Drake’s 32-date Summer Sixteen Tour in 2016. Apple has also gotten into episodic streaming video with Carpool Karaoke to keep listeners and viewers coming back.

Apple releases list of performers for Apple Music Festival's 10th anniversary

The 10 nights of live performances will be made available live and on-demand to Apple Music members in 100 countries on their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC, Apple TV and Android phones.  

The Apple Music Festival will celebrate it's 10th year with a return to London's legendary Roundhouse this September. Formerly the iTunes Festival, the series will feature  live music from Alicia Keys, Bastille, Britney Spears, Calvin Harris, Chance The Rapper, Elton John, Michael Bublé, OneRepublic, Robbie Williams and The 1975.

The full lineup was announced today by Julie Adenuga, the London voice of Beats 1, an Apple Music radio station. Apple Music lets fans get even closer to their favorite performers during the Apple Music Festival with exclusive playlists, artist news and backstage interviews throughout September.

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Apple Music Festival venue gets ‘environmental makeover’

One of Apple’s goals is supposedly to “leave the world better than they found it.” That’s why even the venue they use for their annual Music Festival, London’s Roundhouse, has received an “environmental makeover.” According to Apple’s environmental head Lisa P. Jackson, “We’re making major upgrades to the lighting, plumbing, and HVAC systems; installing recycling and composting bins; arranging to turn used fryer oil into biofuel; buying renewable energy credits to cover the Roundhouse's September electricity use; and offering reusable water bottles instead of plastic ones.”

Apple says they expect that the changes they’ve made could reduce Roundhouse’s annual emissions by 60 tons. It’ll also save Roundhouse 60,000 gallons of water per year and divert over 1,600 kilograms of waste from landfills.

Source: MacRumors

The Weeknd and more artists slated to perform at Apple Music Festival

Apple’s upcoming Music Festival has a few more big names to perform at the 10-day event. Those added to the roster of performers include The Weeknd, Take That, James Bay, Leon Bridges, and The Chemical Brothers. You can see the full roster of performers on the dedicated site as well as the schedules when they’ll be playing. Apple will probably unveil more of the acts in the coming days before the festival kicks off on September 19.

Source: MacRumors