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Apple reportedly making original music videos in-house for Apple Music artists

In an interesting development, Pitchfork reports that Apple is making music videos for artists in-house. It claims the music videos for Pharrell William’s ‘Freedom’, Drake’s ‘Energy’ and Eminem’s ‘Phenomenal’ were all made by Apple content studios. These artists have certainly helped with the Apple Music launch (with both Pharrell and Drake having their own radio show on Beats 1) so it wouldn’t be out of the question that Apple is ‘compensating’ them with produced music videos. It certainly seems like a good way of brokering a deal for music exclusivity.

Of course, the idea of Apple content creation is weird — especially in such a niche area of music videos. Pitchfork is adamant however and says that Apple is working with more artists including Purity Ring, Diddy and James Bay. Another Apple Music exclusive launching on Monday from ‘M.I.A’ is also said to feature a music video been produced entirely by Apple’s internal team.

Meanwhile Larry Jackson, who leads Apple Music content according to Pitchfork, has responded to Spotify CEO’s jab with a ‘Oh ok.’ tweet of his own.

Whether Apple will start making other types of original content is yet to be seen. With a refreshed Apple TV and internet television service expected later in the year, many are wondering whether Apple will follow Netflix and Amazon in creating original TV series for its service. The fact that Apple is making music videos suggests that bigger scale projects — like TV shows — are actually a real possibility.

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Comments

  1. I bet we will find out during a future Apple event that those music videos were all “Shot on iPhone 6”. ;)

    • sahotaca - 9 years ago

      I was thinking the same time.
      “Time Cook, comes on the stage. Remember the Drake video guys, we shot that using iPhone 6 and 6Plus. Isn’t that amazing. Then audience claps and giggle.”

  2. Andy Brooks - 9 years ago

    I think Apple is slowly turing into a record lable

    • Rich Davis (@RichDavis9) - 9 years ago

      If they are, all they are going to spit out is BS since the people that they have to produce such content only put out BS. I’m not going to be buying any of it if Iovine and Dre are involved. They haven’t put anything out that i have or want in my music catalog. Oh well. I think Apple would be better off focusing on the quality of sound of the music and the quality of the music player app to meet the needs of both the average listener but those that have nice stereo equipment that need/want additional features that iTunes doesn’t have that needs desperately.

      • rnc - 9 years ago

        Good thing you have a choice.

        Nice stereo equipment? That’s an oxymoron, everyone knows that for listening to music, you need to go vynil, after you pass a green audiophile magic marker, of course, because digital is the work of the devil, and a good old mono, because stereo loses all the “earthy” feeling of the music, and don’t forget the $10K cables, specially the $5K power cable that’s designed to remove the digital frequencies from the utility, and the $50K speakers made of dead violins.

        (yeah, this would be a reasonable to any audiophile)

  3. robertsm76 - 9 years ago

    Yeah. No way Apple won’t turn into a record label. Better for the Artist too. They’d get a bigger cut from the 70%

  4. Wouldn’t be surprised if the new TV actually had original content deals.

  5. PhilBoogie - 9 years ago

    Eminem’s ‘Phenomenal’?

    What’s next? Meat Loaf’s ‘Magical’? Marcia Hines’ ‘Amazing’? ‘Incredible’ by Clique Girlz?

    • Victor O - 9 years ago

      I don’t get this comment at all.

      • jakexb - 9 years ago

        I only like listening to songs about underwhelming topics.

  6. rogifan - 9 years ago

    I don’t see Apple getting into original TV shows or anything like that. It’s very expensive. My guess is these music videos they’re doing aren’t costing that much.

    • stevelawrence - 9 years ago

      Yeah it’s very expensive and Apple have no money so best leave it to everyone else… right?

      • rogifan - 9 years ago

        Yes. Just like Apple doesn’t need to be a cell phone company they don’t need to be a content company. Leave that to others and focus on what they do best.

  7. this is SO NOT APPLE.

  8. “Of course, the idea of Apple content creation is weird”

    I will give you a pass since you seem to be very young, but no, it’s not at all.

    Apple settled with Apple for good reason. Sosumi.

    Apple has been in the process of becoming a label for a long time. It needs to be done excruciatingly slowly though due to the obvious implications.

  9. George Pollen - 9 years ago

    IMHO Freedom isn’t a good enough song to be promoted (pushed) so heavily, for example when Zane loves it so much he plays it twice in a row… that’s complete B.S.

  10. charismatron - 9 years ago

    Technology only moves so quickly. Tech either expands or innovates: while true innovation takes years to “make” happen, expansion is much simpler, i.e. moving the functionality of a phone to a pad to a watch.

    Apple can’t afford to sit around waiting for something to happen; every market they’ve entered they’ve moved in the best possible direction (most of the time). I’ve always said that the Apple Watch is Apple signalling that its a much different company, and that come five years from now, Apple will be near-unrecognizable from years past. But what will it become?

    If this article is accurate, in-house production of videos and greater participation in televised content are just other ways Apple is going to make this happen. It’s a smart move, and typical of Apple: take models other companies have established, then leap-frog those models in ways we could not have even imagined.

    Apple’s success in these areas is another thing altogether. Hopefully they’ll learn from the many mistakes they made with the watch, and get better as they go along.

    • rogifan - 9 years ago

      How is Apple leapfrogging anything? Nothing so far with Apple Music is new or unique.

      • charismatron - 9 years ago

        The notion of leapfrogging isn’t something Apple does with every product and service.
        providing a 24-hour radio station is something no one else has done, but this isn’t the best example. Better ones would be the 5K desktop, or the 64 bit chip in the iPhone: things which no one in the industry saw coming.

        So, those are examples of leapfrogging.

  11. Graham J - 9 years ago

    I’ve been trying to figure out why Apple has been pushing this Pharrell guy so hard; maybe this is why – they want people to watch the video so it seems popular so more artists want their videos.

  12. rlowhit - 9 years ago

    I hope Apple is seeing something big we all dont see yet. Paying $3.2 billion to hire Iovine and Dre as well as putting a lot of money behind an industry difficult to navigate.

  13. Are all these music videos going to be shot against a white background?

  14. yojimbo007 - 9 years ago

    Next is movies ;)

  15. Paul Douglas - 9 years ago

    I work in the TV industry and I would consider giving my right arm to work for a theoretical Apple Television division.

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Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.