After a decade of rocking the London crowd, tech giant Apple pulls the plug on its Apple Music Festival. Seeing success on its original content, the iPhone maker intends to expand and develop more programs for the brand.
Held every September at the Camden Town's The Roundhouse, Apple confirmed with Music Business Worldwide that they will not host the 10-day event any longer. The cancellation of the music festival does not signal the end of Apple's involvement on the live music scene, as the global brand's presence is still prominent.
Apple recently sponsored the shows of DJ Khaled, Lana Del Rey and Vince Staples during this year's South by South West or SXSW event. They also helped out the Montreal band Arcade Fire on its Brooklyn show, as well as Haim and Skepta's London gig. Drake's 2016 "Summer 2016" tour was also backed up by Apple.
On the other hand, Apple is working hard on boosting its content production department for their Apple Music service. As The Guardian reported, Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Auberg, former executives of Sony's television team, were recently tapped to develop more content for the brand. Some of Apple Music's ongoing programs include the "Planet of the Apes" reality show and the "Carpool Karaoke" spinoff led by James Corden.
Originally called iTunes Festival when it started in 2007, the Apple Music Festival was meant to boost the awareness and popularity of their revolutionary service in the UK. After starting out as a month-long event, the music festival was condensed to 10 nights of music goodness. Apple brought the event to the US in 2014, taking place the same time as SXSW that year. In the festival's 10th year, Elton John, Alicia Keys and Britney Spears were among the top names that headlined the 10-night event.
Apple is scheduled to launch their newest flagship device, the iPhone 8, on September 12 in California.
