Apple Music loses hip-hop and R&B curator to Spotify

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The curator responsible for Apple Music's hip-hop and R&B programming is departing for the service's chief rival, Spotify, a report indicated on Monday.

Carl Chery, formerly of Apple Music.
Carl Chery, formerly of Apple Music.


Carl Chery is credited with securing two critical Chance the Rapper exclusives for Apple, among them the album "Coloring Book," Variety said. "Coloring Book" is now available elsewhere, but for two weeks could only be streamed through Apple Music. Chance would later reveal that he was given $500,000 and a commercial in exchange for the "Coloring Book" deal.

Other achievements credited to Chery include building Apple Music's "A-List: Hip-Hop" and "A-List: R&B" playlists, and helping to break artists like Cardi B, Post Malone, and H.E.R. At Spotify it's likely that he will be curating the service's popular "RapCaviar" playlist, since the previous curator left for YouTube in March.

Chery first joined Apple in 2014 during its $3 billion Beats takeover. Prior to that he worked as a music journalist for outlets like XXL and BET.

Apple Music leadership appears to be in the middle of a shakeup, with Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine withdrawing to a consulting role and Oliver Schusser taking the reins -- though not from Iovine, even if his role has never been firmly defined for the public.

The current look of Spotify on the iPhone.
The current look of Spotify on the iPhone.


In a bid to retain its dominance over Apple Music, Spotify is preparing to announce a major update to its mobile app at a press event next week, according to The Verge. It's unclear what changes the company might be making, but rumors have hinted at a better experience for free listeners and/or the company's planned voice control features.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 21
    I don't think Spotify need anything from Apple Music.
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  • Reply 2 of 21
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,468member
    Does that mean curation loses it bias to hip hop and rap? 

    Hip Hip Hooray!
    JWSCbloggerbloggregg thurmanNotsofastDead_Poolpatchythepiratermfpdxberndog[Deleted User]pscooter63
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  • Reply 3 of 21
    AppleInsider said:
    Carl Chery is credited with securing two critical Chance the Rapper exclusives for Apple, among them the album "Coloring Book," Variety said. "Coloring Book" is now available elsewhere, but for two weeks could only be streamed through Apple Music. Chance would later reveal that he was given $500,000 and a commercial in exchange for the "Coloring Book" deal.
    Serious question: does it take a lot of talent or skill to secure the exclusives when you have $500,000 and a commercial to hand someone?  On the surface it seems pretty darn simple.

    (BTW, $500,000 doesn't seem like all that much. A friend recently booked a private concert by The Chainsmokers (at a corporate event) for well north of that, for one night and a to a relatively low number of attendees)
    patchythepiratedoozydozen
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  • Reply 4 of 21
    Franculesfrancules Posts: 122member
    It’s not like he was good anyway lol
    watto_cobra
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  • Reply 5 of 21
    bitmodbitmod Posts: 267member
    Spotify have by far the best curation in the business. Probably because they have the largest music library in the industry. 

    - Tidal's curation always ends with R&B - regardless of what genre you pick. Want classical Spanish guitar for sleeping... 5 songs in... here is some rapper screaming about his pubes. 

    - Apple's curation always ends with top 40  *yawn* boring as **** corporate spoon fed RIAA sanctioned puke. Elevator music is more interesting. It's the streaming service for mind-controlled prozac junkies.

    - Spotify's curation always ends with never before heard bliss that reaches into your very soul to find the essence of your existence - sending you on a journey of discovery, an epoch to musical nirvana. 

    If Spotify ever goes CD or MQA quality - it's game over for Tidal. 
    AM will always have its niche of serving bland porridge to the drones - on their Homepods with just-good-enough fidelity that it doesn't reveal what lousy compressed sound quality 256 AAC is compared to 320 mp3 (which also isn't great).

    *mic drop...




    [Deleted User]
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  • Reply 6 of 21
    JWSCjwsc Posts: 1,203member
    entropys said:
    Does that mean curation loses it bias to hip hop and rap?
    Yea.  That’d be a shame...  😏
    berndogwatto_cobra
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  • Reply 7 of 21
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    entropys said:
    Does that mean curation loses it bias to hip hop and rap? 

    Hip Hip Hooray!
    One can only hope. And before anyone cries racism...check my avatar.
    patchythepirateberndog
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  • Reply 8 of 21
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    bitmod said:
    Spotify have by far the best curation in the business. Probably because they have the largest music library in the industry. 

    - Tidal's curation always ends with R&B - regardless of what genre you pick. Want classical Spanish guitar for sleeping... 5 songs in... here is some rapper screaming about his pubes. 

    - Apple's curation always ends with top 40  *yawn* boring as **** corporate spoon fed RIAA sanctioned puke. Elevator music is more interesting. It's the streaming service for mind-controlled prozac junkies.

    - Spotify's curation always ends with never before heard bliss that reaches into your very soul to find the essence of your existence - sending you on a journey of discovery, an epoch to musical nirvana. 

    If Spotify ever goes CD or MQA quality - it's game over for Tidal. 
    AM will always have its niche of serving bland porridge to the drones - on their Homepods with just-good-enough fidelity that it doesn't reveal what lousy compressed sound quality 256 AAC is compared to 320 mp3 (which also isn't great).

    *mic drop...




    Have to agree with the curation comments, Apple Music just recommends me playlists of music I already own, or very bland collections that I'm not interested in.  The library is there, I can search for all sorts of gems, but the recommendation engine is not very impressive at all.
    paisleydiscormfpdx[Deleted User]
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  • Reply 9 of 21
    Oh 🤫 hush....Apple might take your Spotify apps in IOS....then what??
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  • Reply 10 of 21
    entropys said:
    Does that mean curation loses it bias to hip hop and rap? 

    Hip Hip Hooray!
    I do my own curation because anybody born after 1965 hasn't a clue about what I might like (hip hop and rap are definitely not on my list of favorites).
    JWSC
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 11 of 21
    bitmod said:
    Spotify have by far the best curation in the business. Probably because they have the largest music library in the industry. 

    - Tidal's curation always ends with R&B - regardless of what genre you pick. Want classical Spanish guitar for sleeping... 5 songs in... here is some rapper screaming about his pubes. 

    - Apple's curation always ends with top 40  *yawn* boring as **** corporate spoon fed RIAA sanctioned puke. Elevator music is more interesting. It's the streaming service for mind-controlled prozac junkies.

    - Spotify's curation always ends with never before heard bliss that reaches into your very soul to find the essence of your existence - sending you on a journey of discovery, an epoch to musical nirvana. 

    If Spotify ever goes CD or MQA quality - it's game over for Tidal. 
    AM will always have its niche of serving bland porridge to the drones - on their Homepods with just-good-enough fidelity that it doesn't reveal what lousy compressed sound quality 256 AAC is compared to 320 mp3 (which also isn't great).

    *mic drop...




    Actually, Apple has a larger catalogue, 45 million to 35 million songs,  so you need to go back to the drawing board and rethink all of what you thought to be true about the two services.  
    lostkiwipscooter63JWSCmatrix077watto_cobra
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  • Reply 12 of 21
    jcs2305jcs2305 Posts: 1,342member
    bitmod said:
    Spotify have by far the best curation in the business. Probably because they have the largest music library in the industry. 

    - Tidal's curation always ends with R&B - regardless of what genre you pick. Want classical Spanish guitar for sleeping... 5 songs in... here is some rapper screaming about his pubes. 

    - Apple's curation always ends with top 40  *yawn* boring as **** corporate spoon fed RIAA sanctioned puke. Elevator music is more interesting. It's the streaming service for mind-controlled prozac junkies.

    - Spotify's curation always ends with never before heard bliss that reaches into your very soul to find the essence of your existence - sending you on a journey of discovery, an epoch to musical nirvana. 

    If Spotify ever goes CD or MQA quality - it's game over for Tidal. 
    AM will always have its niche of serving bland porridge to the drones - on their Homepods with just-good-enough fidelity that it doesn't reveal what lousy compressed sound quality 256 AAC is compared to 320 mp3 (which also isn't great).

    *mic drop...




    So the entire service that is Apple music is for mind controlled prozac junkies because the curation piece is lacking? If I disagree and say that I enjoy Apple Music outside of the curation does that mean I am a fanboy and believes that Apple can do no wrong? I do enjoy it (Apple Music) very much and don't really care about the curation... because I have been able to discover a ton of music without it, but I do wish it were better. I have no opinion regarding Spotify as I have never used it. Not because of Apple music, just because when I was ready to buy into the idea of streaming music rather that just streaming my own 15k collection via iTunes Match, Apple music was the easiest choice. 

    Most things I have read put Apple's musical library between 40-45M and Spotify at about 30-35M ?

    https://www.techradar.com/news/audio/apple-music-vs-spotify-vs-play-music-vs-tidal-vs-deezer-1296240

    https://www.tomsguide.com/us/apple-music-vs-spotify,news-21069.html

    https://www.consumerreports.org/audio-video/best-music-streaming-service-for-you/


    Oh and nice ending shot at the HomePod .. now I see why you got all defensive when I called one for you HomePod bashing 1 post friend a troll..makes prefect sense now. Hahaha what a joke..  

    For the record you can play ALAC files via airplay from your IOS device to HomePod,  or use "FLAC Player+" if you want to Play FLAC files the same way,  if you don't have your hi res files converted to ALAC. I played Meshuggah's "Nothing" original mastering (ALAC)  from my phone on HomePod just this past weekend.  I personally prefer the real drums on the original release. So no not all of the people using and enjoying Apple Music are mind controlled prozac junkies as you so succinctly put it. We all enjoy music in our own ways curation aside..

     Oh and if you are going to try and say that you can tell the difference between a 256 AAC recording and a 320 MP3 which are both Lossy as you kind of state ( lousy compressed sound quality 256 AAC is compared to 320 mp3 (which also isn't great) you are completely full of sh**. 

    edited April 2018
    JWSCpscooter63fastasleepwatto_cobra
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  • Reply 13 of 21
    bitmodbitmod Posts: 267member

     Oh and if you are going to try and say that you can tell the difference between a 256 AAC recording and a 320 MP3 which are both Lossy as you kind of state ( lousy compressed sound quality 256 AAC is compared to 320 mp3 (which also isn't great) you are completely full of sh**. 

    Everyone can tell the difference on my systems. Everyone. 
    Everyone agrees the Spotify 320 soundsbetter. This is in blind testing.
    Mind you, my system costs more than your car. Thus why I said - if you have the fidelity...
    You obviously don’t have the fidelity. 

    Happy you enjoy AM. It’s a great time to be alive. But my comment was a generalization of the differences between the services. I obviously don’t think that every AM subscriber is on Prozac... they don’t have to be, they have A.M. o.O

    You should try Spotify if you haven’t. There is a reason they are the industry leaders. 

    Peace

    freshmakerdoozydozen
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  • Reply 14 of 21
    rmfpdxrmfpdx Posts: 19member
    I'd be happy if Apple Music lost all rap music to Spotify. There is far too much of it. Every time I check to see what the latest pop hits are, there is rap, and much of it unbelievably foul, offensive, sexist, violent, and misogynistic, none of which I want in my head. Please, Spotify, take the "curator" of this dreck and all of it with you!
    watto_cobra
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  • Reply 15 of 21

    Is Rock truly dead? All new music seems to be RnB, Hip Hop, Rap or Pop. The so-called Nu-Metal sounds as corporate as the rest.

    I'm probably not looking deep enough and recommended playlists really aren't that great. I dig in looking for my own music. I tend to gravitate towards older acts.

    It's pretty rare to come across a band like First Aid Kit on the "For You" section of Apple Music. You need to know what to look for.

    watto_cobra
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  • Reply 16 of 21
    Bluntblunt Posts: 224member
    R&B and Hip-Hop will never be on my playlit so i will be fine.
    watto_cobra
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 17 of 21
    croprcropr Posts: 1,149member
    I never understood the business rationale behind exclusives (from both Apple and Spotify).  I don't think people are choosing the one or the other because of these exclusives.  Rather app quality, loyalty to an ecosystem, device support or a free tier are the main reasons to choose Apple or Spotify
    watto_cobra
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  • Reply 18 of 21
    Geez, people, it's OK that you don't like rap or hip-hop (to each his own), but declaring it like it's some sort of badge of honor is just weird. You sound like a bunch of old fogeys.
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  • Reply 19 of 21
    Notsofastnotsofast Posts: 450member
    I think it goes to the "discoverability" and curation problem.  Hip hop/rap, etc., are a dominant genre among a lot of listeners, so it makes sense that so much of it is front and center, especially with Apple bringing on Beats founders when they bought Beats.  Problem is people who don't like it, or the profanity and sexist/misogynistic language, etc., still get bombarded with it when they open the app or listen to Beats 1.  You can set up your own "stations," etc., but many folks don't want to bother with that.  If Apple could offer a Beats 2, 3, 4, etc., with pop. classical, country, etc., and find way to have music genres people don't like omitted from offerings,  it would make for a better experience.
    watto_cobra
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  • Reply 20 of 21
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,487member
    rmfpdx said:
    I'd be happy if Apple Music lost all rap music to Spotify. There is far too much of it. Every time I check to see what the latest pop hits are, there is rap, and much of it unbelievably foul, offensive, sexist, violent, and misogynistic, none of which I want in my head. Please, Spotify, take the "curator" of this dreck and all of it with you!
    What kind of service would AM be if they heavily censored artists? You could just take some responsibility for yourself and avoid albums with the very clear E for explicit icon and let the rest of the non-pearl clutching world listen to what they enjoy. 
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