Skip to main content

Is Apple poised to make a push into content production?

Apple Music — Horses: Patti Smith and her Band — Apple

Last week, Apple held a live screening of Horses: Pati Smith and her Band, the company’s documentary focused on Pati Smith. Some industry analysts believe that Horses is just the latest sign of Apple’s push into content production.

Recommended Videos

“We think that content is always king and the tech companies are starting to understand how king content can drive their businesses,” Loup Ventures analyst Gene Munster told The Guardian. “In Apple’s case that’s selling iPhones, in Google’s case it’s advertising, and in Amazon’s that’s selling Amazon Prime memberships.”

The collaboration with Smith is the latest example of Apple using its money to boost the appeal of Apple Music. Prior to the launch of Apple Music, the company purchased Beats By Dre and repurposed the brand to better synergize with its then-new streaming service. Those investments appear to have paid off, as Apple Music currently has around 36 million subscribers and is poised to surpass Spotify.

Beyond music, the company has long expressed a desire to move into the realm of TV and movies. At one point, it had no less than 10 original TV shows in the works. Its recent efforts in that arena, Planet of the Apps and Carpool Karaoke, have not caught on with audiences or critics, however.

It’s worth noting that Apple Music had some troubles in its early days. The company reportedly struggled to adapt to the changing market regarding subscription-based music.

Music and video aren’t the only areas that Apple is investing in. It recently purchased Texture, a digital magazine service. This has fueled rumors that Apple may be considering a purchase of Condé Nast. Analyst Munster doubts the accuracy of those rumors, however, citing the fact that consumers are more willing to pay for music and video than print content.

That doesn’t necessarily mean Apple won’t move into the print media business, but Munster believes it is unlikely to purchase a single publisher. Rather, those in the industry believe that we will soon see companies offer a single subscription for print, video, and music.

“Over the next five years, we think there’s going to be one single offering for video, music and print content,” Munster said. “These essentially vertical subscriptions are focused on one type of content – music, video (Netflix or HBO) or print. So the concept is to create all-in-one offerings for different types of media.”

Eric Brackett
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Apple quietly retires one of its Apple Music tiers
Apple Music plan with HomePod Mini and AirPods.

Apple is retiring its Voice plan for Apple Music that lets people use Siri to select tracks for $5 a month -- less than half the cost of the regular plan.

The tech giant introduced its most affordable Apple Music plan in 2021 but on Wednesday said in a message on its website that it’s ending the ability to sign up to it with immediate effect.

Read more
No, Apple Music’s new Discovery Station won’t kill Spotify
The Apple Music Discovery Station on an iPhone.

The Apple Music Discovery Station is now available, but won't kill Spotify all on its own. Phil Ninckinson / Digital Trends

There's a crutch that tends to appear whenever Apple is written about, and it's arisen yet again this week. Apple Music now has a "Discovery Station" that lives alongside your personalized station (that's the one with your name). And that's led some lazy headlines to declare that Apple Music finally has a feature "that could kill Spotify."

Read more
Let’s be clear, Apple — it’s time to make a transparent iPhone
Deep Purple iPhone 14 Pro with Beats Studio Buds+ in Transparent

Apple has released a new product that's gotten a lot of attention because of an awesome new color option. No, it’s not an iPhone, iPad, or even an Apple Watch. Heck, it’s not even the AirPods Pro 2. So, what am I talking about?

Apple acquired Beats by Dre in 2014, and this week, Beats dropped the new Beats Studio Buds+, which are pretty similar to the AirPods Pro 2, but cost less dough. And they come in one of the coolest colors I’ve seen in a long time: transparent.

Read more