Apple Music’s bid to take on Netflix has seen the company fight tooth and nail to find content it believes will give it competitive edge.
As a result of their lofty ambitions? The rejection of a series shot to honour the life of its business partner Dr. Dre.
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The Tim Cooke-fuelled empire believes family friendly content will drive subscribers into its arms and feels that the latest version of Dre’s televised story, ‘Vital Signs’, is anything but.
The ‘Wall Street Journal’ reports…
Apple has made clear, say producers and agents, that it wants high-quality shows with stars and broad appeal, but it doesn’t want gratuitous sex, profanity or violence,”
“The show, a dark, semi-biographical tale of hip hop artist Dr. Dre, featured characters doing lines of cocaine, an extended orgy in a mansion and drawn guns. It’s too violent, Mr. Cook told Apple Music executive Jimmy Iovine, said people familiar with Apple’s entertainment plans. Apple can’t show this.”
It adds…
Hollywood is central to Apple’s strategy. As growth slows in the number of iPhones sold, Apple is trying to accelerate its services business, which includes the App Store, mobile payments and entertainment, including its music-subscription offering. It wants shows to support a video service on its TV app that could be bundled with subscriptions such as iCloud storage, said the people familiar with Apple’s entertainment plans.
The first batch of Apple shows were set to be launched in March but will now spin into action later on this year if all goes to plan. One of them? A show built with help from African-American mogul Oprah Winfrey.