Apple Music officials talk about exclusivity, artists, app news and more!

Since the Apple Music was launched in June 2015, it has already caused quite a stir in the streaming world music, in the professional lives of artists and even in record companies. Even if the app itself did not please those who were used to, for example, the organization of Spotify, the iOS 10 brought some improvements both in this regard and in the activities behind it.

Jimmy Iovine, Zane Lowe and Bozoma Saint John, some of the executives responsible for the streaming Ma talked to BuzzFeed News about what they learned in this short time, explained some changes to the app and also commented on some polemics.

Battles for exclusivity

The battle of streams it certainly got more spicy with Apple Music. The big “letter in the sleeve” of the service are the exclusive artists that Ma always tries to grab. In this endeavor, Universal Music Group vetoed the artists to make exclusive agreements, as a result of the disagreement with Frank Ocean for having profited enough after leaving the label and launching independently on Apple Music. Iovine, however, said that Apple's intention is not to become a record label and that exclusive deals with Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group are already underway.

We worked hard for that, we had some real successes and we always try to keep the friendship. We are experimenting to see what works. Every time we work with an exclusive artist, we learn something new. the Apple show. As long as Apple asks me to do what I'm doing, I'm going to keep doing it.

Iovine's concern, in fact, is how much free music can be found easily. According to him, there are enough free songs for people to be in doubt if they really want to subscribe to the service. In the end, the illegal distribution of music ends up harming both artists and Apple itself.

Artists

Regarding the artists' experience, Lowe, the DJ who runs the Beats 1 radio, comments on how the service has helped them to really put themselves on the market and do it in a profitable way.

I think Apple Music is a place that helps artists to tell their stories. where artists can come in and feel comfortable. And that happens not only in Beats 1, but also in the release of your albums, in our editorial, through content, in all aspects.

Apple Music app

When explaining about the redesign application, Bozoma mentioned that the intention was to make an easy interface for anyone to use, even those who were not familiar with any streaming. In the process, they also thought about the common user and what their interaction with the app would be on a day-to-day basis.

In order to attract more activity to the app, they used algorithms to create playlists suitable for each user. The users' iTunes library was a great ally in this phase as the experts relied on all of our information from artists, albums and songs that have already been reproduced or favored. So they created the playlists "My favorites" (“My Favorites Mix”, which indicates songs that you previously marked as favorites on iTunes) and “Releases and discoveries” ("Discovery Mix", which is based on your library to indicate other songs that match your taste).

If you thought that the previous version (the first) of the Apple Music app did not do a good job, you are not alone; Iovine himself acknowledged this:

We were very ambitious at the beginning, we probably put a lot into it. But we're getting there now, one step at a time. And what we are creating, I think will surprise everyone.

According to the executives, more lists go by, but Apple first wants to test them thoroughly before launching them. We must not forget that the service only has a year of life, so we will certainly see many changes (good, preferably) coming around.

(via 9to5Mac)