Thanks To Beats 1, Apple Music Doesn’t Have To Pay For Exclusives
When Apple Music launched Beats 1, I wrote that former record exec Jimmy Iovine had just created every major label's wet dream – a global radio station where they controlled the playlist. Now, Beats 1 has taken off it; and with, the ways that labels and artists are using it to promote and sell music.
Over the weekend, Drake and Future released an 11-track mixtape "What a Time To Be". It premiered on Drake's OVO Sound Apple's Beats 1 radio show last night, and is now available exclusively on iTunes and Apple Music.
Their surprise release has garnered more buzz on both social and traditional media over the weekend than did any of the hundreds of albums that came out on Friday's "official" global release date.
Surprise releases are not all that surprising any more, but doing it on a global platform like Beats 1 and amplified by Apple, Apple Music and social media, artists have been given a stage much bigger and more suited to promoting and selling music than any traditional media outlet.
So without paying a dime, Apple Music has yet another major exclusive – and its the most talked about album of the week.
Kudos, Jimmy.
