APPLE MUSIC ADDS BAD BOY DOC

Days after Apple announced the delay of its first series Carpool Karaoke, Apple Music revealed that Sean Combs’ Bad Boy doc would premiere on the service that Jimmy Iovine tells Bloomberg News could release as many as 10 original series by the end of the year.

The Live Nation Productions documentary Can't Stop Won't Stop: A Bad Boy Story will be available to watch on Apple Music on 6/25. Combs and Heather Parry produced the film, which premieres tonight at the Beacon as part of the Tribeca Film Festival. Daniel Kaufman directed; Live Nation chief Michael Rapino, Andre Harrell and Alex Avant are the executive producers.

The film traces the label's rise from its birth in Harlem and Brooklyn, explores the murder of Biggie Smalls and celebrates Bad Boy's influence in shaping music, fashion, marketing and culture.

"As partners on both the hugely successful Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour [in 2016] and this documentary, Live Nation is proud to bring Puffy's vision to life," said Rapino, CEO and President, Live Nation Entertainment. "With Apple Music on board, we will now be able to share this unique story about the power of live music with the world."

Last week, Apple acquired the rights to Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives, though no release date has been announced.

In a sit-down interview with Bloomberg, Iovine repeated the Apple Music mantra: “A music service needs to be more than a bunch of songs and a few playlists. I’m trying to help Apple Music be an overall movement in popular culture, everything from unsigned bands to video. We have a lot of plans.”

The story mentions will.i.am’s competition show for app developers, a long-rumored series based on Dr. Dre, an R. Kelly project and a possible collaboration with J.J. Abrams. For Iovine, the key is to get Apple on content creators’ speed dial alongside networks and studios.

“We have the freedom, because it’s Apple, to make one show, three shows, see what works, see what doesn’t work until it feels good,” Iovine says. “For a music streaming service, we’re building a very decent slate.”

Bloomberg states that a new edition of the Music app that better showcases video will accompany the introduction of Apple’s smartphone software iOS later this year. With iTunes, Apple Music and a new TV app on a single device, it becomes much more attractive than the competition’s offerings.