New reports are suggesting that Zane Lowe will be in charge of revamping Apple’s iTunes Radio service. The former BBC Radio 1 DJ left his previous role last month, but little information about his new job was given away.
Whilst the nature of the job still hasn’t been officially disclosed, it’s thought that Apple headhunted Lowe due to his music curation skills and eclectic tastes. The New York Times suggests that Lowe could have been asked to reconfigure the iTunes Radio to give it a more “geographically-targeted approach”.
It’s thought that Apple are eager to make their music streaming service distinctive from Spotify. The services will be Beats-branded and will apparently offer exclusive content. Ex-Beats boss Jimmy Lovine is apparently behind moves to get artists and labels to sign exclusivity contracts. The revamped service will apparently cost around the same as Spotify. This comes after reports that the company had failed to convince labels to accept lower licensing fees for their artists’ music.
Apple are expected to relaunch iTunes Radio at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Lowe spent twelve years at Radio 1 and was also a long-term presenter on MTV Europe.
