Apple Music TV launches as 24-hour curated music video stream

AppleInsider

Apple is stepping on the territory of MTV with its latest Apple Music feature, with the launch of a 24-hour stream of music videos for US-based users called Apple Music TV.

Apple Music TV

Launched on Monday, Apple Music TV is a constant stream of music videos hosted by the music streaming service, which is free to view via the Apple Music app and the Apple TV app, and accessible from Apple's website. The feed, which is curated by Apple's editors, will show a variety of content to users, in what could be considered a throwback to the earlier years of MTV.

The stream will offer users "exclusive new music videos and premieres" as well as "special curated music video blocks, an announcement received by Variety reveals. It will also air live shows and events, "as well as chart countdowns and guests."

The premiere broadcast of the digital channel was the top 100 all-time most-streamed songs on Apple Music in the United States. To celebrate the upcoming release of the Bruce Springsteen "Letter to You" album, an "all day Bruce takeover" will consist of blocks of videos for the artist, a fan event livestream, and an interview with Zane Lowe.

Apple Music TV will also premiere new music videos on Fridays, with the first two consisting of Joji's "777" and Saint Jhn's "Gorgeous."

The decision to launch Apple Music TV is a natural evolution for Apple's music streaming service, and an extension of its existing online broadcasting via its collection of radio stations. It will also serve as a way for users to discover more of Apple's existing collection of video content already on the service, and may also help bolster the content catalog by triggering the creation of new videos.

fruitstandninja

Video killed the radio star!

I think this is awesome. 

EsquireCats

Cue the sound of angry typewriters at Spotify HQ.

How dare they... think of things! It’s clearly a violation of our freedom to literally offer nothing new in a over decade. 

There! Sent! Now back to sitting on our hands for another year.

neoncat

It must be difficult for you that there are other music services in the App Store, EsquireCats. Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Deezer, Soundcloud, Pandora... there are others I'm forgetting, I'm sure. There was a comment here on AI a few months back where someone (a regular, I remember) bemoaned that all the choices and competitors on the App Store were "distracting" and possibly "prevented" people from choosing Apple's "superior services." Like, wanting a different set of features or UI/UX was a *problem*.

Do you feel competition is a problem, EsquireCats? I'm curious. Maybe an App Store that only featured Apple services/apps, or those vetted under service umbrellas (Apple Arcade)? There's quite a few people over at r/Apple who are arguing exactly that—put an end to third party apps, they're "unwanted/unneeded."

Or maybe just exclude the ones that Apple has an alternative to? Sure, there might be some antitrust saber-rattling, but nothing some lobbying dollars can't overcome.  

robin huber

Always missed the original MTV so was really excited to try this this morning on my TV. All I got was music with no video on the stream! All the other music video content worked fine, but not the 24-hour stream—black screen! What’s up with that?

foregoneconclusion

neoncat said: Do you feel competition is a problem, EsquireCats?

Lampooning the complaints of Spotify about Apple Music is fair game. It's not like Spotify is shy about roasting Apple. 

WarrenBuffduckh

EsquireCats said:

Cue the sound of angry typewriters at Spotify HQ.

How dare they... think of things! It’s clearly a violation of our freedom to literally offer nothing new in a over decade. 

There! Sent! Now back to sitting on our hands for another year.

How dare they.  It’s a shame how Youtube, Spotify, Amazon Music, Tidal, ..... copied Apple - in advance.

jeromec

Does not seem to work outside the USA, even with an American Apple ID.

:-(

Works with a VPN simulating US presence.

neoncat

foregoneconclusion said:

neoncat said: Do you feel competition is a problem, EsquireCats?

Lampooning the complaints of Spotify about Apple Music is fair game. It's not like Spotify is shy about roasting Apple. 

It's only fair game if we're 9 years old, running around on the school yard at recess. 

randominternetperson

neoncat said:

foregoneconclusion said:

neoncat said: Do you feel competition is a problem, EsquireCats?

Lampooning the complaints of Spotify about Apple Music is fair game. It's not like Spotify is shy about roasting Apple. 

It's only fair game if we're 9 years old, running around on the school yard at recess. 

The AI forums aren't exactly a corporate boardroom.  For most intents and purposes this is a school yard or playground.

mjtomlin

If Apple keeps expanding these entertainment services, I think they should eventually break them out and form a separate company much as they did with Claris (now known as FileMaker) in the 90's.

Media or Entertainment

Music, Music Videos, Music Concerts, Radio, Podcasts, TV Shows, Movies, Books, Magazines, News, Games, Fitness, etc.

mike1

fruitstandninja said:

Video killed the radio star!

I think this is awesome. 

Please tell me this was the first video played.

jgreg728

Needs to be a fully integrated Apple TV Channel. No PiP is wack. 

genovelle

mjtomlin said:

If Apple keeps expanding these entertainment services, I think they should eventually break them out and form a separate company much as they did with Claris (now known as FileMaker) in the 90's.

Media or Entertainment

Music, Music Videos, Music Concerts, Radio, Podcasts, TV Shows, Movies, Books, Magazines, News, Games, Fitness, etc.

I think that is an awful idea. FileMaker is a shell of what it would be as a full on Apple division. Being able to shift the resources of any department as needed to grow a service of develop a product is what makes Apple the power house it is. When they talked about new initiatives released at the October event they talked often about how 3 or more teams came together to develop things together to make sure they were addressing important issues from the beginning. 

EsquireCats

neoncat said:

It must be difficult for you that there are other music services in the App Store, EsquireCats. Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Deezer, Soundcloud, Pandora... there are others I'm forgetting, I'm sure. There was a comment here on AI a few months back where someone (a regular, I remember) bemoaned that all the choices and competitors on the App Store were "distracting" and possibly "prevented" people from choosing Apple's "superior services." Like, wanting a different set of features or UI/UX was a *problem*.

Do you feel competition is a problem, EsquireCats? I'm curious. Maybe an App Store that only featured Apple services/apps, or those vetted under service umbrellas (Apple Arcade)? There's quite a few people over at r/Apple who are arguing exactly that—put an end to third party apps, they're "unwanted/unneeded."

Or maybe just exclude the ones that Apple has an alternative to? Sure, there might be some antitrust saber-rattling, but nothing some lobbying dollars can't overcome.  

Neoncat: Posts 13. All as bad as this one. Cheerio.

neoncat

EsquireCats said:

neoncat said:

It must be difficult for you that there are other music services in the App Store, EsquireCats. Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Deezer, Soundcloud, Pandora... there are others I'm forgetting, I'm sure. There was a comment here on AI a few months back where someone (a regular, I remember) bemoaned that all the choices and competitors on the App Store were "distracting" and possibly "prevented" people from choosing Apple's "superior services." Like, wanting a different set of features or UI/UX was a *problem*.

Do you feel competition is a problem, EsquireCats? I'm curious. Maybe an App Store that only featured Apple services/apps, or those vetted under service umbrellas (Apple Arcade)? There's quite a few people over at r/Apple who are arguing exactly that—put an end to third party apps, they're "unwanted/unneeded."

Or maybe just exclude the ones that Apple has an alternative to? Sure, there might be some antitrust saber-rattling, but nothing some lobbying dollars can't overcome.  

Neoncat: Posts 13. All as bad as this one. Cheerio.

Sorry, I'll model my posts from here on out after your first one in this thread. Churlish tribalism disguised as discourse. 

By the way, you didn't answer my question: Do you partner with those who believe Apple is made worse by allowing third party apps? Your arguments throughout your posting history do, at times, mirror theirs. Just curious where you stand. 

tokyojimu

Reminds me of Sony Music TV, which used to run late night on UHF channels in Japan. Their jingle still pops into my head all the time: “Sony... Myujik TB”
https://youtu.be/rj70dxPHe0w

Beats

neoncat said:

It must be difficult for you that there are other music services in the App Store, EsquireCats. Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Deezer, Soundcloud, Pandora... there are others I'm forgetting, I'm sure. There was a comment here on AI a few months back where someone (a regular, I remember) bemoaned that all the choices and competitors on the App Store were "distracting" and possibly "prevented" people from choosing Apple's "superior services." Like, wanting a different set of features or UI/UX was a *problem*.

Do you feel competition is a problem, EsquireCats? I'm curious. Maybe an App Store that only featured Apple services/apps, or those vetted under service umbrellas (Apple Arcade)? There's quite a few people over at r/Apple who are arguing exactly that—put an end to third party apps, they're "unwanted/unneeded."

Or maybe just exclude the ones that Apple has an alternative to? Sure, there might be some antitrust saber-rattling, but nothing some lobbying dollars can't overcome.  

His comment was about Spotify complaining about Apple and anti-trust crap like they always do. I think you missed that.

WarrenBuffduckh said:

EsquireCats said:

Cue the sound of angry typewriters at Spotify HQ.

How dare they... think of things! It’s clearly a violation of our freedom to literally offer nothing new in a over decade. 

There! Sent! Now back to sitting on our hands for another year.

How dare they.  It’s a shame how Youtube, Spotify, Amazon Music, Tidal, ..... copied Apple - in advance.

Kind of a dumb comment considering Apple had streaming on iTunes and patents on a streaming service before any of them you mentioned. The reason they hesitated on releasing their streaming services was because iTunes was making a ton of money. Apple also invented the iPhone which was the platform for streaming services and highly advertised Spotify before anyone knew who Spotify was.

I think a more fair comparison would be giving MTV credit.

Japhey

tokyojimu said:

Reminds me of Sony Music TV, which used to run late night on UHF channels in Japan. Their jingle still pops into my head all the time: “Sony... Myujik TB”
https://youtu.be/rj70dxPHe0w

Great video, thanks. I never knew about Sony Music TV, but that video makes me really miss the 90s, lol. Sony was king in those days. 

Beats

Will these have hosts? Otherwise how would it compete for people who stream their music on YouTube for example?

Apple needs to give it their all as if it's a life or death situation for the company so this can be the new MTV. Unlike how they did with Apple Arcade and Apple Music 1 Radio (ugly fu**ing name).

Now that I think of it, the fact Apple didn't hype this up at the last events and just casually dumped it on us shows they don't have big ambitions for this service.

Japhey

Beats said:

Will these have hosts? Otherwise how would it compete for people who stream their music on YouTube for example?

Apple needs to give it their all as if it's a life or death situation for the company so this can be the new MTV. Unlike how they did with Apple Arcade and Apple Music 1 Radio (ugly fu**ing name).

Now that I think of it, the fact Apple didn't ihype this up at the last events and just casually dumped it on us shows they don't have big ambitions for this service.

I agree with all these points. But I’m thinking it may be a placeholder in its current format until Apple makes its move into AR/VR. Then, they can leverage the NextVR acquisition to provide access to live events via iap or ppv. It’s just my opinion, of course, but it seems like a pretty obvious opportunity for them. And, they have been known in the past to passively add a feature that didn’t become useful until later. I’ll add this to my AppleTV prediction and just wait and see. I called Fitness+ a year before it was announced, but I was wrong about TouchID on the iPhone 12, so my track record is as good as Prosser’s, haha.