Drake smashes Apple Music’s single-day streaming record, too

Canadian rapper Drake didn’t just break records on Spotify. It seems his done the same thing on Apple Music, too. His 22-song “playlist” called More Life was streamed 89.9 million times on Apple Music for the first 24 hours it was available. It broke the record on Apple’s streaming service, which was believed to have been held by Drake as well for his last album Views. Aside from that, it even set records on Beats 1 with the weekend’s episode of “OVO Sound Radio,” where Drake premiered this playlist, became the biggest Beats 1 show to date. It isn’t known how many listeners tuned in, though.

As 9to5Mac points out, this streaming record on Apple Music might prove important for Apple and the viability of its streaming service as it has been streamed some 28.6 million times more there than on Spotify for its first 24 hours of availability. It’s a big deal especially with the difference in number of subscribers the services have. Apple is supposedly “well past” 20 million subscribers while Spotify reached 50 million paying listeners recently.

Apple’s ‘Carpool Karaoke’ gets first trailer

We’ve already heard of the new format Apple plans to bring to Carpool Karaoke: The Series. Now we get a first look at what the show is going to look. Previewed at the Grammy Awards, it shows original host James Corden as well as a slew of other celebrities including Will Smith, John Cena, Shaquille O’Neal, Alicia Keys, Blake Shelton, Chelsea Handler, and Arianna Grande, to name a few. And unlike the original show, the guests and the host for the week step out of the car and some surprise fans at bakeries, laundromats, and even a wedding. We’re kinda curious now about the show. It’ll be streaming on Apple Music soon. We don’t have the specific date yet, though.

Prince's music tipped to be returning to Spotify and other music streaming services

People have been reading between the lines, or at least between the subway posts in New York, saying that Prince's catalog will be making a comeback on popular music streaming services in time for the Grammys on February 12. Currently, Tidal has exclusive streaming rights to the Purple One's back catalog. Speculation started when Spotify started posting very coy billboards in high-foot traffic areas like the Union Square in New York. And by coy, they're just posts painted in purple with Spotify's logo on them. If there is any truth to the rumor, Prince's catalog is expected to hit Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Unlimited, Deezer, and Pandora.

Source: CNET + Billboard

Jimmy Iovine: Apple Music will offer a pop cultural experience

Apple Music, it seems, won’t just be about music. According to Apple executive Jimmy Iovine, they want to offer “an entire cultural, pop cultural experience, and that happens to include audio and video.” And he doesn’t mean just music videos, either. Iovine believes they need more than just songs to grow the service, especially since they’re going up against the likes of Spotify and Pandora.

According to Hollywood Reporter, one of the shows that could make it to Apple Music is the “dark drama” series Vital Signs, which is produced and starred by Dr. Dre. It could even be released all at once, much like what Netflix and Amazon does. We know Apple already acquired Carpool Karaoke and it also has an unscripted series in the works about competitive app development called Planet of the Apps.

Source: 9to5Mac