Drake and Apple have been in a partnership since the launch of Apple Music last summer, with the artist contributing his own Beats 1 radio show to the streaming service and recently announcing that his upcoming album, Views From The 6, will be exclusive to Apple Music and iTunes for one week. In an Instagram post today, Drake confirmed his partnership with Apple will continue into live music as Apple Music will sponsor his "Summer Sixteen" tour (via The Verge).
The tour kicks off July 20 in Austin, Texas, and features the artist Future as a co-headliner with Drake. In the brief Instagram announcement, no specifics were given regarding the nature of Apple Music's sponsorship of the tour, besides the decorative inclusion of the Apple Music logo on the Summer Sixteen poster. The partnership could open the possibility for the streaming service to give fans some kind of exclusive glimpse into Drake's performances, akin to Taylor Swift's 1989 World Tour documentary released last December.
Those interested in tickets for the Sumer Sixteen tour will be able to purchase them beginning April 29. The tour will visit over thirty cities in the United States and Canada, ending on September 17 in Vancouver. One of Drake and Future's well-known songs, "Jumpman," was used by Apple in a recent Apple Music ad starring Taylor Swift.
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I remember reading in Steve Jobs' biography where Jobs talked to Enimen (I just KNOW I'm selling his name wrong), because Jobs knew that he needed that community for iTunes to succeed. Here, Apple is cranking it up to 11 this time around because it seems to be really popular (the MTV Music Awards is still hugely successful, much to our (or at least my) annoyance). Eventually, though, I do expect Apple to go into other areas (well, they're starting, like with Pop (Taylor Swift) and a little of country (with some people that I don't know (or care about))). Until then, at least the other genres aren't blocked out of Apple Music.
Maybe they'll go through with those plans of making more Beats radio stations. (I personally hope for one focused on Japanese music. (Yeah, I like that style of music. So sue me.))
It's like me deliberately storing all my data on my over spec'd MBPr, when I could have lived with a much smaller SSD...