Jimmy Iovine cleared the air on a few myths and rumors when it comes to how he’s running Apple Music.
In an interview with The New York Times Apple Music executives Larry Jackson and Jimmy Iovine offered their thoughts on the current music landscape. Throughout the talk they reiterated that they are not trying to be a wedge between artists, labels and fans. Instead, they want to find ways where the three can live together seamlessly.
Throughout the year Apple Music had been criticized for their “exclusives” with artists like Drake and Frank Ocean that virtually forced fans to subscribe to Apple Music to hear their music since it wasn’t going to be available anywhere else, either for a limited time or forever. They were also accused of joining Ocean is his jugg move where he turned in his throwaway album Endless to Universal one day before coming out with his real album Blonde on Apple Music the next day. There were also rumors of a “beef” among Iovine and Apple and Jay Z and TIDAL. Iovine acknowledged that they were indeed competitors, but went exactly in a competition.
On Frank Ocean, Iovine says:
We wanted to work with Frank Ocean. We had a deal — we were working with Frank Ocean, and he controlled where his music came out. Why would it be in our interest to be part of a fast one, a slow one or any one? We were getting the record no matter what. Whatever happened with him and Universal is really between him and Universal. It has nothing to do with us. Nothing.
On “bad blood” between Apple Music and Tidal:
Not even one speck of it. I see Jay all the time. I want him to do great. There was never one record company. When I produced records, I used to ask Quincy [Jones] to come in and help me. We are competitors, yes. But as far as anything more, absolutely not.
Iovine and Jackson also talked about Kanye West’s decision to stream The Life Of Pablo on TIDAL instead of their platform. They said that they weren’t surprised by the move since Jay and Kanye had a better working relationship, at the time. In fact, they said they stopped by the studio to hear the album and offer feedback.
Check out the rest of the interview here.
Photo: WENN.com
