Apple has recently launched its brand new “Apple Music TV” which is a 24 hour live streamed curation of popular music videos. According to the announcement, it will overall consist of “exclusive new music videos and premiers, special curated music video blocks and live shows and events as well as chart countdowns and guests.”
Premiering the morning of October 19, it started off with a countdown of the top 100 all-time most-streamed songs on Apple Music in the U.S. This feature is now available on Apple Music and the Apple TV app if you already have a subscription, no extra charges.
For years it’s been rumored that Apple has been trying to expand their platform for showcasing music videos, performances and interviews, which has been largely dominated by platforms such as Youtube and Vevo. They’re also taking the approach of displaying different footage into original content, as well as throwing all of their past original content into the mix of the feature such as interviews and concert films.
“The whole idea of this brings me back to the old MTV vibes,” Gio Giordano, sound recording and music technology major at Montgomery County Community College, said. “It will surely be nostalgic for a lot of people.” He isn’t the only one who had thought of this comparison, as it’s been compared to the MTV channel that has been displaying videos and concert footage for 24 hours straight since the 80s.
This legendary concept has been something that has lost popularity through this generation, but Apple is expecting to utilize this feature to raise their platform to even more of a level of versatility, while bringing the concept back with their own twist.
There aren’t any ads present through the daily live streams and there aren’t any specific genres or channels, so simply what you see is what you get. This is what viewers quickly noticed as the feature is still in the early stages.
When comparing it to platforms such as Youtube and Google TV, Apple Music TV has yet to grow as respected and grow the video reputation that they have, as those two have more of a wide variety of content and options to choose from, that a lot of the time isn’t just music. Youtube is also completely free to watch and upload content as we all know, which isn’t how these Apple platforms are commonly known to operate.
“Me being a big fan of music videos, maybe when I’m in the mood to watch some newly released ones, this can be the first thing I resort to,” Sean Beers, sophomore communications major, said. Even if that feature can’t stand completely tall with the established giants, it can still aim to dominate and perfect the craft from a music standpoint, with all of the premiers and specials they plan to have with certain artists.
One special curation that has taken place so far was on the 22nd, where the channel dedicated the day to a Bruce Springsteen takeover in advance of his upcoming album, Letter to You, with dedicated music video blocks and an exclusive interview with Zane Lowe. There have also been documentaries in the works such as Billie Eilish’s The World’s a Little Blurry which is coming in February, and have been said they gotten the green light for a Prince documentary. Every Friday, music videos will be premiered by a wide range of our favorite artists, and these are only the first steps of Apple’s elevation with this feature they’re going to continue to push to the masses.
