Apple Funds New Program to Turn Emerging Artists Into Pop Stars

Apple is introducing a program to promote young musicians with a monthlong barrage of videos, playlists and new music, deepening the technology giant’s direct investment in artists through Apple Music, according to Bloomberg.

The first performer to benefit from the Up Next program is 6lack, a 24-year-old Atlanta singer who released his debut album last fall. Last Thursday, Apple released a short documentary about 6lack, as well as video of a live recording session taped in Atlanta and an interview on Beats One, Apple Music’s radio station.

Beats One host Zane Lowe will introduce 6lack (pronounced “black“) on James Corden’s late-night talk show Thursday evening on CBS, and over the course of the next month, Apple will promote 6lack’s songs on Apple Music playlists, Beats One and the iTunes store. Similar promotions with other artists will follow in the months to come.

Apple executives hope the campaign will attract more artists and customers to its 2-year-old music service, which has signed up more than 20 million customers since June 2015. With rivals YouTube, Pandora and Spotify all offering support to musicians, Apple is eager to show artists it can help them become stars, and to lure fans with exclusive video and music.

Lowe devotes 90 percent of his daily show to new music, and routinely tweets out a list of younger artists he plans to showcase on any given day. “New music is consistently undervalued in the mainstream media,“ Lowe said. “It gets the least rotation. It’s the thing that gets talked about the least in mainstream TV.“