It’s a busy month for Apple Music, with three separate announcements in recent days around the service. First, its Apple Music Live concerts are returning for their second season tomorrow (10 May).
Ed Sheeran kicks it off with a concert in London – playing tracks from his new album backed (unusually, for him) with a 12-piece band. It will be streamed on Apple Music and then made available for on-demand viewing.
The second announcement is a new, original podcast called ‘Hip-Hop DNA‘. The 20-episode show is hosted by Apple’s own Ebro Darden, and will dig into the 50-year history of hip-hop.
Finally, Apple Music’s efforts to bring classic DJ mixes to its service continue. The latest partnership is with Ninja Tune for its famous ‘Solid Steel’ radio show and mix series, which originally aired between 1988 and 2019.
11 mixes are being released initially from the likes of Coldcut, Diplo, Juan Atkins and Hot Chip, with more to follow in the future.
It’s all a good summary of Apple Music’s content strategy. It’s more than willing to tap the pulling power of big stars (Sheeran’s predecessors in the first season of Apple Music Live concerts included Harry Styles and Billie Eilish). But it’s also going deep into music culture and history, particularly around hip-hop and electronic music.
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