Grammy-nominated DJ Zane Lowe leaving flagship BBC Radio show, joining Apple
One of BBC Radio's most popular music personalities is set to leave the historic British broadcaster in March, and will reportedly move across the pond to take a still-unknown position at Apple.
Zane Lowe. | Source: BBC
Zane Lowe, who has helmed BBC Radio 1's widely-praised evening show since 2003, will sign off on March 5, according to the BBC. Lowe is known as a musical tastemaker and is credited with jumpstarting the careers of artists like Adele and Gnarls Barkley by featuring them on his show.
Lowe has won numerous awards as a DJ, and was a 2015 Grammy nominee for his work producing Sam Smith's standout album In the Lonely Hour.
News of Lowe's move comes amid reports of heightened ambitions for Apple's music unit. The iPhone maker is reportedly no longer satisfied with merely being a music distributor, and instead has set a goal "to be the music business."
While it is unclear what Lowe will do at Apple, the company has placed a high degree of emphasis on musical curation, especially after acquiring Beats Music and bringing in cofounders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre.
"We get a subscription music service that we believe is the first subscription service that really got it right," Apple chief Tim Cook said when discussing the deal. "They had the insight early on to know how important human curation is. That technology by itself wasn't enough -- that it was the marriage of the two that would really be great, and produce a feeling in people that we want to produce."
Zane Lowe. | Source: BBC
Zane Lowe, who has helmed BBC Radio 1's widely-praised evening show since 2003, will sign off on March 5, according to the BBC. Lowe is known as a musical tastemaker and is credited with jumpstarting the careers of artists like Adele and Gnarls Barkley by featuring them on his show.
Lowe has won numerous awards as a DJ, and was a 2015 Grammy nominee for his work producing Sam Smith's standout album In the Lonely Hour.
News of Lowe's move comes amid reports of heightened ambitions for Apple's music unit. The iPhone maker is reportedly no longer satisfied with merely being a music distributor, and instead has set a goal "to be the music business."
While it is unclear what Lowe will do at Apple, the company has placed a high degree of emphasis on musical curation, especially after acquiring Beats Music and bringing in cofounders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre.
"We get a subscription music service that we believe is the first subscription service that really got it right," Apple chief Tim Cook said when discussing the deal. "They had the insight early on to know how important human curation is. That technology by itself wasn't enough -- that it was the marriage of the two that would really be great, and produce a feeling in people that we want to produce."
Comments
The way I understood it, he is coming here to teach Tim Cook how to properly pronounce "Aluminum."
While it is unclear what Lowe will do at Apple, the company has placed a high degree of emphasis on musical curation, especially after acquiring Beats Music and bringing in cofounders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre.
The way I understood it, he is coming here to teach Tim Cook how to properly pronounce "Aluminum."
I have little doubt that Jony Ive pronounces it similarly to Lowe, so Cook quite likely knows what is 'proper.'
But I doubt that's why he's going to apple
One of BBC Radio's most popular music personalities is set to leave the historic British broadcaster in March, and will reportedly move across the pond to take a still-unknown position at Apple.
Well unknown to us but more than likely not unknown to him.
I think they're going to try, at the very least. Apple has grand aspirations, grander than I think most of us realize. Kinda creepy at times.
But Beats headphones are still crap! /s
Very possible he doesn't know, knowing Apple. "We have a project, I can't tell you details, but it requires a very particular set of skills, we'll give you a $300,000 salary and 10,000 stock options. You in?"
I still want to know why they hired Anand Lai Shrimpi.
Well... Not really. I used to think so too. But they've lowered that horrendous base boost, and they've been getting some good reviews lately.
They probably hired this guy to work at the Beats subscription service to head the music curating portion. That's what DJs do, after all.
As far as Anand goes, that's a harder one
Well... Not really. I used to think so too. But they've lowered that horrendous base boost, and they've been getting some good reviews lately.
I know I was being sarcastic since people still seem to think Apple bought Beats purely for their headphones.
That or he is there to run the in-house radio that's piped into Joni's department.
It occurs to me that Apple should continue hiring various people from disparate, high profile areas of expertise. Maybe a nuclear scientist, a deep space rocket specialist, an expert in submarines and so on ... it keeps the name Apple in the headlines, gives hours of fun to rumor sites and obfuscates anything they want to keep under the radar.
As a Radiohead fan I loved how he always managed to get some good info out of them.
That or he is there to run the in-house radio that's piped into Joni's department.
It occurs to me that Apple should continue hiring various people from disparate, high profile areas of expertise. Maybe a nuclear scientist, a deep space rocket specialist, an expert in submarines and so on ... it keeps the name Apple in the headlines, gives hours of fun to rumor sites and obfuscates anything they want to keep under the radar.
And it might actually turn out to bring fantastic projects. Diversity is a boon in most companies, and Apple is/could be expanding into unexpected markets like Watch, car, TV, robots...
I believe this more than ever now. Playlists made by computers do tend to help me discover new artists but it always seems more haphazard than a human-curated playlist. And the human DJ can really develop a mood with a progression through that playlist. That might change one day and certainly the algorithms can be refined but for sheer personality I have always preferred a human DJ over any of the music-match systems.
I think they're going to try, at the very least. Apple has grand aspirations, grander than I think most of us realize. Kinda creepy at times.
I know of a creepier company, and it begins with 'G'.
Right now, yes. But it always pays to keep an eye out for tomorrow's creepy company.