4-30-15
In February, Apple hired Zane Lowe away from BBC Radio 1, moving the New Zealand-born top radio DJ from London to Los Angeles. Lowe supposedly will have a key role in Apple's still-undisclosed new streaming service, which may debut in June. It appears Lowe wants to work with some familiar faces, so Apple has reportedly taken four more talents from BBC Radio.
According to Music Business Worldwide, one of the foursome is Lowe's former producer James Bursey, who has left to join his friend in Los Angeles. Two of the other three names are top BBC Radio 1 producers Natasha Lynch and Kieran Yeates. (Yeates has since confirmed the news.) They will supposedly work out of Apple's London offices, starting in late May.
With word of staffers leaving, the BBC issued a statement that read: "Radio 1 is respected worldwide for making great programmes and is vital to the record industry for choosing the best new music and artists. We are proud to have a proven record of discovering and developing staff that are seen as the best in the business."
Details on Apple's new streaming service have not yet been released. It comes from their purchase of the Beats brand and service in 2014, but it may not carry the Beats branding. It is rumored to be a specialized streaming service that will tie into a soon-to-be revamped iTunes. Some of the streams will work more like radio stations, with personalities introducing songs. Apple is said to be actively seeking famous musicians to curate their own channels on the service. One of the reasons behind the Zane Lowe hire is said to have been so Apple could use his great influence of worldwide musical acts to become part of the new service, curating their own stations. Beats and iTunes Radio, plus the new Apple creation, will all be combined into one new subscription service.
The target launch date for Apple's unveiling of this service is June 8 at the Worldwide Developers Conference taking place in San Francisco.
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