Eddy Cue and Jimmy Iovine have dominated all the interviews and public discussions around Apple Music and Beats 1. Ian Rogers is a key part of that team but has been silent – until now. He has written a short blog ahead of the service going live tomorrow and revealed the exact launch times for Apple Music and Beats 1. The former apparently goes live at 8am PST (i.e. LA time) and the latter follows at 9am PST. He then revised the blog to take out the exact launch times, but a number of tech websites had already copied & pasted/screengrabbed it.
(When Rogers was at Topspin, he was a prolific blogger and video podcaster and always had an interesting take on music industry issues. We sense the hand of the Apple PR machine on his shoulder here.) Beyond saying/letting slip what time each part of the service goes live, he does not reveal any big secrets, but instead presents it as the culmination of his career in technology and music to date. He says his “first non dish washing job” was hosting a radio show at 16, then rode the MP3 wave, moving into streaming radio and D2F retailing. “Seeing Apple Music on stage at WWDC this month […] it was hard not to feel like the last 20+ years was leading to this day,” he says. In related news, Rogers has said that Apple Music/Beats 1 will be compatible with Sonos speakers soon. “it will be ASAP, but not at launch” he said on his Twitter feed in response to someone asking him about it.
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…