In 2014 Apple bought Beats Electronics from Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre. Mr. Iovine then went to Apple until he retired in 2018. In a new interview he says he’s worried about the future of the music industry (via NYT).
Music and Tech
Essentially, Mr. Iovine remarks that streaming music services like Apple Music are “utilities.” Video services like Netflix have original content, but music services have all the same content.
Some companies can sign exclusive deals with artists, but eventually their content makes its way to the other platforms. Because of the uniformity, the main competitive feature becomes price. That’s good for tech companies but not for music companies.
The artists now have something they’ve never had before, which is a massive, direct communication with their audience — from their house, their bed, their car, whatever. And because of that, everybody wants them. Spotify wants them, Apple Music wants them, Coke wants them, Pepsi wants them. And people that make terrible second records are still famous and still have online audiences. The power of celebrity, this obsession with Instagram — it’s driven by personality and lifestyle.
He also emphasizes that musicians should focus on quality over quantity. The entire interview is worth a read.
Further Reading
[Jimmy Iovine Wants Apple Music to Be a Movement in Pop Culture]
:… it’s driven by personality and lifestyle…” – right, certainly not about them or their music – which is worthless. All of their “followers” have never bought a track of any of them that follow them. Let alone bought any music. Record labels, companies and the artists themselves are the people that have devalued their music to zero worth – well because it is so bad. Not only is most (99%) such bad music, no one will pay or even remember or know the track they are currently listening too if asked.
Every musician puts their music on FREE you video website. Keeping it worthless.
Dude, you _really_ need to diversify your music sampling. Ever try electro swing? World? I do agree that all the streaming services have the same music. I tried several of them for a few months, never found a category I was happy with on any of them. Right now YouTube is the best source of good new music.