The new series of Love Island starts next week on ITV2 and, for readers outside of the UK, it is a reality show that basically plonks a load of young people on an island in the hope that some of them will start relationships or, even better, start several relationships. For an ITV2 show it is quite a big deal and it dominates the British celebrity and tabloid press through its run. But what has any of this televised dating got to do with music or digital? We’re getting to that.
Ministry Of Sound, now part of Sony Music, has been retained for the fifth season of the show as the “official curation partner”. There will be a branded pool party in the villa where the show is set and the second album in the Pool Party compilation series will come out on 7th June, a few days after the show returns. But the digital bit (yes, we finally got there) is that MOS will curate the Love Island Moments playlist on Apple Music, gathering together all the music used in the show that will be updated in real time as each episode airs.
“The Ministry Of Sound pool parties have become synonymous with Love Island and it’s testament to everyone working on both the programme and the partnership, that the brand is returning for the new series,” said James Penfold, ITV’s controller of partnerships.
MOS has had tight links with Apple Music since October last year when it signed an exclusive playlisting partnership with the streaming service (de-listing its playlists on Spotify in the process). It was the first label to really benefit from a label-centric curator profile on Apple Music and it is something the streaming service has built upon with other labels such as UMG – marking a clear distinction between how it allows labels and other third-parties to build their curator brands there and how Spotify prioritises its own in-house curation and playlist brands.
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,…