Human curation is one of the biggest selling points of Apple Music, insofar that the music streaming service drops the typical numbers and algorithms behind-the-scenes and opts to use humans to pick the listener’s next track.
In a new interview with WIRED, Apple Music executive Jimmy Iovine opens up about the curation of Apple Music, and why he believes the music streaming service can get away with it, and how curation, specifically this type of curation, is such a big factor moving forward. On top of that, Iovine also drops a hint that this curation could make its way to other forms of entertainment, suggesting that Apple TV — the streaming service, not the set-top box — could benefit from this feature.
“We all know one thing, we all have different television delivery systems, don’t we all wish that the delivery systems were better, as far as curation and service?” he says. “They’re all technically good. And Netflix is starting to cross the code because they’re starting to make some original content. It is really good, but still I mean none of us make movies here right, so we’re all punters, or what do you call them in the music business, fans right? We want to watch movies. Sit down with your girlfriend or a bunch of friends and try to find a movie online. That box helps you none — it doesn’t help. You’re on your own. And eventually that will catch them unless somebody digs in and really helps the customer. And entertainment needs that, it needs to live and breathe.“
Interestingly enough, Iovine would quickly add that he’s not ready to jump into another medium just yet…
“I’ll tell you man, right now, this [music] is so daunting that I can’t even think about anything else.“
…But considering how big an endeavor Apple Music is, that kind of response isn’t all that surprising. Especially when, elsewhere in the interview, Iovine is not hesitant to admit that Connect, the feature that lets artists and bands connect directly with fans, still needs some work to find its footing. As Iovine puts it, Apple has to find a way to make Connect prove its value to the artists that are accessing it. Essentially, Apple has to make Connect another great place to share content, when Twitter, and other popular social networking tools, already exist:
“We have to prove [Connect’s value to artists], and we will slowly prove that. That will be the piece of the service that comes along last, or later, and we have some real plans,” he tells WIRED. “We’re building it out a lot more, it needs a lot of technical work as well. But we believe we’ll get there and it’ll be a great place for artists to communicate and with a lot of independence and freedom to do what they want to do. But we’re still building it.“
The rest of the interview, available through the source link below, is certainly worth reading, as it gives a nice in-depth look at the creation of Apple Music’s features, including a look at Beats 1, and where Iovine stands on the platform as a whole, and its future.
Recently, Iovine was part of another interview with the Evening Standard and spoke about Apple Music as a whole, Apple’s reaction to Taylor Swift’s open letter and more.
Are you still using Apple Music?
[via WIRED]
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