Apple Pays $25 Million for Billie Eilish Documentary Headed for Apple TV+ Rather Than Apple Music

[MacRumors]

Apple has paid $25 million for the rights to a Billie Eilish documentary that will be shown on Apple TV+ and follows the 17-year-old singer-songwriter's life after the release of her debut album in March, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

According to the report, the film is directed by R J Cutler and produced in collaboration with Interscope Records, and covers moments between Eilish and her family, as well as behind-the-scenes peeks at public appearances. The project is expected to debut in 2020.

Notably, the film will reportedly be released on Apple TV+ instead of Apple Music, which has previously been host to documentaries about musicians, like Taylor Swift's The 1989 World Tour (Live) and Ed Sheeran's Songwriter.

The decision could signal a broader shift in Apple's content plans so that all the company's original programming is released exclusively on its new TV+ video streaming service, rather than being divided across two platforms.

Earlier this year, Apple removed the TV & Movies category from the Browse section of the Music app and started linking out Apple Music programming from its TV app listings.

Apple Music-hosted video content, currently discoverable from the TV app​

Apple already bundles Apple TV+ with its Apple Music student plan, which costs $4.99 per month, so hosting all video content in the TV app would make sense. Apple is also considering bundling Apple Music, Apple TV+, and its Apple News+ subscription service as early as 2020, according to Bloomberg.

Eilish kicked off Wednesday's inaugural Apple Music Awards with a bespoke performance based on her debut album When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? The singer was also awarded ?Apple Music?'s Album of the Year as the most streamed album of 2019, and Songwriter of the Year, which went to both her and her brother FINNEAS.

Article Link: Apple Pays $25 Million for Billie Eilish Documentary Headed for Apple TV+ Rather Than Apple Music

 

[calstanford]

Apple wastes so much money instead of putting it into better product development

 

[Williesleg]

Glad to see apple putting so much money into tv.
One thing I wish is if they could fix their existing tv.
For example, if you buy or watch the preview of the curse of oak island, latest season, latest episode, you get an entirely different show! No way to contact apple about it, so enjoy the free other show until they fix it, whenever. Or maybe they won't ever fix it. They're too busy doing other things.

 

[tmanto02]

Eww. Why

 

[Pepe4life]

I’d rather they put 25 million towards new emojis to be honest.

 

[macslayer118]

I’m going to need y’all to stop posting articles about this “artist”. I do not understand how she became so popular, her “music” is literally just her whispering to a beat. #edgy #getoffmylawn

 

[Gutwrench]

She’s a talented young woman and I like her music. However, I‘m not interested in AppleTV+.

 

[UK-MacAddict]

Why don’t they lower the price of their products to reasonable levels instead.

Customers are clearly paying too much for their products if they can afford to blow $25m on this rubbish.

 

[Craigwilliam]

I'm not really into her music, I guess I'm not really into modern music in general but I might check out the documentary to see if it's interesting.

 

[sers]

Who's Billie Eilish?

 

[OriginalMacRat]

Apple wastes so much money instead of putting it into better product development

After purchasing Beats, management got addicted to the Hollywood parties and started looking for more projects that would let them justify hanging out in LA more often.

 

[SoGood]

The society has lost perspective to be so interested in a 17 years old 'kid' and willing to pay $25M. The valuation is commercial but makes social value sense in the bigger scheme of things. Just 17 years old!

 

[bpp85]

I’m going to need y’all to stop posting articles about this “artist”. I do not understand how she became so popular, her “music” is literally just her whispering to a beat. #edgy #getoffmylawn

Well I know some people on this forum who are apparently anointed judges of good taste in music might find this to be a shocking statement but - different people like different music. I don’t think this is reporting on Billie Eilish, it’s more about what is going to be on Apple’s services.

 

[Velin]

Apple wastes so much money instead of putting it into better product development

Right? We understand; Apple the services company needs content to compete. Got it.

But nothing about this "investment" is going to help pros, techs, or even consumers where it matters: the tech. Nothing about this improves speed, or reliability, or interoperability. This does nothing for workflows. This does not help us communicate better or more clearly.

If this helps Apple make more money, which then flows to (i) product and software development, (ii) Apple's use of AWS or its own datacenters for cloudflow, or (iii) lower product/service prices, then good.

 

[rmoliv]

I don’t dislike her music but I couldn’t care less about her life!!!

 

[chilly willy]

No axe to grind with the young lady. Good for her and her fans. But that’s a lot of money that to this curmudgeon could be put into hardware or software development. That said, Apple is transitioning from being a hardware company, so no one should be shocked. I’m just still trying to come to terms with fact Apple looking to become a big player in the entertainment world.

 

[ikir]

great artist (not my genre anyway) and great human being.

 

[iapplelove]

Apple going for the younger crowd. Lock them in early on subscription services.

They know that iPhone revenue is starting to dry up.

 

[ikir]

The society has lost perspective to be so interested in a 17 years old 'kid' and willing to pay $25M. The valuation is commercial but makes social value sense in the bigger scheme of things. Just 17 years old!

That kid is more mature than most users here. She also switched to vegan years ago for environment and animal rights. She is very intelligent and talented. I don’t like her music, but I recognize she is an artist. Also her success is incredible.
[automerge]1575548126[/automerge]

Apple wastes so much money instead of putting it into better product development

There is no relation in this. Hardware is a thing, entertainment is another.

 

[ZMacintosh]

Who's Billie Eilish?

William Eyelash

 

[Ninflu]

Apple should rather invest 25$ Million into a better Software-Development and talented Developers, instead of spending money on a exclusive contract with a teenager.

 

[sunapple]

If you don’t know her, you don’t understand the value she adds to Apple’s services. Hint: it’s a lot, she’s quite popular.

 

[CarpalMac]

Further evidence, if ever it was needed, that I am most definitely not in Apple's core demographic.

Literally no idea who that is and I don't live under a particularly large rock.

 

[frou]

50-something corporate types splashing big money to try to be down with the kids. It's totally not cringeworthy at all, no sir.

 

[Abazigal]

Right? We understand; Apple the services company needs content to compete. Got it.

But nothing about this "investment" is going to help pros, techs, or even consumers where it matters: the tech. Nothing about this improves speed, or reliability, or interoperability. This does nothing for workflows. This does not help us communicate better or more clearly.

If this helps Apple make more money, which then flows to (i) product and software development, (ii) Apple's use of AWS or its own datacenters for cloudflow, or (iii) lower product/service prices, then good.

Well, if it's something I have picked up here, it's that anything which gets criticised here likely means that Apple is on to something and that it will resonate with everyone else.

All this reminds me of the "Where's my Mac Pro" whining that infested this forum not too long ago. Everyone here acting like a bunch of jilted lovers who can't seem to stomach the possibility of Apple having the *gasp* audacity to invest in products that they don't use.

Because if you have no use for it, means that no one else has a use for it, right?