Jimmy Iovine told Variety on Monday that’s his committed to staying on the team and helping Apple conquer music streaming. He spoke of the success of Apple Music but acknowledged that “there’s still a lot more we’d like to do. I am committed to doing whatever Eddy [Cue], Tim [Cook] and Apple need me to do, to help wherever and however I can, to take this all the way. I am in the band.” He even joked that “we need Donald Trump here to call it ‘fake news’”.
Iovine denies rumors
Iovine, who became Apple Music executive in 2014 when the company purchased Beats Electronics from him, speaks in response to a number of rumors last week that suggested he was planning to leave Apple in August. He added:
“There is a tiny portion of stock that vests in August, but that’s not what I think about,” Iovine added. “My contract is up in August, but the funny thing is, I don’t have a contract. I have a deal, and certain things happen along that deal. The bottom line is I’m loyal to the guys at Apple. I love Apple, and I really love musicians. That’s why those articles annoyed me because it had nothing to do with reality. It made it out to be all about money.”
The future for Apple Music
Apple Music now has 30 million subscribers and is predicted to only increase thanks to even more exclusive content initiatives. Iovine believes exclusivity is the way forward for Apple Music. He draws parallels with Netflix and HBO who have $6 billion and $3 billion in exclusive content, respectively. It is this original content which he puts down to their success. Apple Music has almost no exclusive content, and all the major streaming services are essentially the same.
