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

[jscooper22]

Maybe they want to cash in before the inventible train-wreck.

 

[Cycom]

Honestly thought it was a dude at first until the article.

 

[laz232]

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.

Cute - about 70% of the people at my school went through a vegetarian phase (I wasn't at the time, was a vegetarian for many years in my 30s and am mostly pescatarian) - doesn't prove anything.

Only 5% of the ppl I knew at uni had a car - easy to say it was 'for the environment' -TBH is was because noone could afford to run a car, nor did we need one at the time.

Let's see how they do in their 30s - see which artists manage to make things that last...
The music industry is great at making the next big hype - few of those poor kids pull through to leave a lasting mark on music.

 

[dazz87]

25 Million on a documentary about a nobody..............

 

[gbc204]

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.

Uh, yeah, the "helps Apple make more money" is the entire point. Why does anyone pay to get a movie or show made? To help them make money. The movie/show itself doesn't make the money. There are no commercial air time slots to sell on a streaming service. The eyeballs and ears and pop culture cache make the money. And Apple I'm fairly certain that Apple's hardware/software R&D budget isn't only from money that they get from hardware/software sales...

You've got the most popular/hottest musician in the world right now, a person who's got some of the most obsessive fans. All but guaranteed a good number will sign up for TV+ just to watch this. She was huge before she ever put a record out and she's only going to get bigger. And if she doesn't... well, always the next big thing to throw some money at. $25m is nothing to Apple and it's money well spent for the potential upside.

 

[Jimmy James]

I looked equally depressed when I was 17. Hopefully, she’s playing a character or she finds happiness.

 

[Baymowe335]

So sad for you. I am watching the heck out of all of Apple's shows. Dickinson, FAM, TMS, Servant, See. One hell of a lineup, in my opinion.

See is great.

 

[redheeler]

Not instead of. If you actually think that Apple has so little money that they can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, you need to wake up. If otoh your comment was code for not caring for this proposed show, just say so because may of us agree.

Apple has unlimited funds to spend? Four years of no Mac mini updates says otherwise. The discontinuation of the AirPort line says otherwise. No consumer-focused Apple display or Mac Pro says otherwise. Priorities do matter inside Apple and the consequences speak for themselves.

 

[rgbrock1]

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

I agree. I've been waiting years for a steaming pile of *** emoji. NOT.
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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.

Pet Rocks were popular a number of years ago as well.

 

[mrongey]

Good lord, if this forum is representative of the "pro" market, no wonder Apple is moving away from them! Pretty much everyone under 30 knows who Billie Eilish is, even if they don't like her music.

Complaining about spending money on this is even worse than complaining about watchbands. Apple has billions in the war chest, and purchasing content requires zero man-hours of investment - they pay for the content that is already made, distribute it on their platform, and hope that their investment pays off in attracting people to their service. Like it or not, Apple has a streaming platform now, and this is how that business operates.

I forget the exact figures, but Apple has already allocated billions of dollars for content acquisition and production, so this isn't taking taking money from anything else. Apple isn't having to choose to take money from one department and put it toward something else.

Seriously, if this thread is showing the true colors of the people who have been criticizing Apple for losing sight of their market, then Apple has been 100% correct, because it is these people who have lost touch.

 

[kaneda]

Will the narrator whispers in the whole documentary?

 

[Kabeyun]

Apple has unlimited funds to spend? Four years of no Mac mini updates says otherwise. The discontinuation of the AirPort line says otherwise. No consumer-focused Apple display or Mac Pro says otherwise. Priorities do matter inside Apple and the consequences speak for themselves.

First: no one ever said Apple’s funds were unlimited. I suggested they can make a documentary for what the richest company in the world is chump change and still, y’know, make stuff. Anyone who thinks that $25M siphons cash from product development needs to stop smoking the funny stuff.
Second: the discontinuation of AirPorts says nothing about Apple’s funds.
Third: the deprioritization of Mac Pros says nothing about Apple’s funds.

 

[DeepIn2U]

$25m for ... documentary? Like, for a DOCUMENTARY??! Are they filming it with solid gold cameras or setting up entire city scape sets for this thing? It's self promotion for the artist, so her income from it should be minimal and off the earnings later.

Apple really knows how to buy a luxurious catering spread while losing the script.

If they aren't throwing money down the drain on re-re-heated talent doing insipid stories based on neotrash, they are doing ultra-expensive documentaries. Nice.

WHAT?!

A documentary is NOT self promotion! Anyone whom watches it already knows about the artist and trying to find out more ... specifically about their history, their trusted circle and their personal life ... NONE of which is contracted out to recording studios nor part of their musical artistic submissions for SALE!

IS your history, family being part of your employment? hell no. why do you think artists fall into such a thing?

Prince pretty much made documentary's profitable for artists and rightfully so. I'd have to respectfully disagree with your initial thought on this. Once it's published and released their right to purge personal information (which could show up) they cannot delete it. they're taking an incredible risk.

 

[developer13245]

All this reminds me of the "Where's my Mac Pro" whining that infested this forum not too long ago.

Even better. Now the dolts that have been whining "Where's my Mac Pro", have the answer to their next rant:

"Where's the money I spent on this overpriced Mac Pro??"

Answer: In this chick's pocket.

 

[DeepIn2U]

*clap* STOP *clap* MAKING *clap* STUPID *clap* PEOPLE *clap* FAMOUS *clap*

IF in this era she's stupid ... yet at 17yrs old famous and rich ... I think maybe those of us here talkig sheez maybe the ones falling into that category or maybe we NEED to be were she be at at least with the finances. Just a though not calling anyone any names here.

 

[Ar40]

I think this documentary will actually turn out to be incredibly enlightening, given how misunderstood Billie is. At least judging based on the snide and derogatory comments posted here against her. Maybe you guys will finally understand the appeal and why she whispers when she sings.
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Good lord, if this forum is representative of the "pro" market, no wonder Apple is moving away from them! Pretty much everyone under 30 knows who Billie Eilish is, even if they don't like her music.

Complaining about spending money on this is even worse than complaining about watchbands. Apple has billions in the war chest, and purchasing content requires zero man-hours of investment - they pay for the content that is already made, distribute it on their platform, and hope that their investment pays off in attracting people to their service. Like it or not, Apple has a streaming platform now, and this is how that business operates.

I forget the exact figures, but Apple has already allocated billions of dollars for content acquisition and production, so this isn't taking taking money from anything else. Apple isn't having to choose to take money from one department and put it toward something else.

Seriously, if this thread is showing the true colors of the people who have been criticizing Apple for losing sight of their market, then Apple has been 100% correct, because it is these people who have lost touch.

Yeah. The sooner Apple moves away from the demographic which posts here (with exceptions) the better. Won't miss them at all.

 

[Baymowe335]

Apple has unlimited funds to spend? Four years of no Mac mini updates says otherwise. The discontinuation of the AirPort line says otherwise. No consumer-focused Apple display or Mac Pro says otherwise. Priorities do matter inside Apple and the consequences speak for themselves.

What? How is that evidence that they don't have unlimited funds? They kind of do. Your priorities just don't match up to the most valuable company on Earth.

Guess what? Their priorities are right and yours aren't.

Source: Apple being the most valuable company on Earth.

 

[dantroline]

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

They have to do their part as globalist citizens to push unnecessary cultural change. I guess it makes business sense if you can transfix the gaze of idle minds on entertainment as a product placement vehicle, but let's not pretend it's honest and not manipulative.

 

[trainwrecka]

I'm tired of seeing this girl everywhere, but thought I might be missing something. Apple has typically had great taste in music when it comes to events, so I decided to listen to her 5 biggest songs. It's as bad as I thought it would be. Artist of the year? We're doomed.

 

[DotCom2]

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

They know that iPhone revenue is starting to dry up.

Exactly THIS! If you don't like her music or even know who she is, clearly you are not the demographic this is aimed for. But the younger crowd loves her and this will help bring them in.
Just buy Apple Stock (AAPL) and you won't care what they do or whether you like it or not. Just enjoy the ticker upside.

 

[Killbynumbers]

Who's Billie Eilish?

Exactly. I also thought that was a male.

Apple wastes so much money these days.

 

[DeepIn2U]

I hope in real life she smiles and is just playing a role for fame. Her music kind of boring so maybe no smiles.

Go visit a high school and you will see a lot of brooding teens with their faces glued to iPhones and screens

I really think YOU shoud've written this article!

The way kids are today, brooding, fighting harder than ever to fit in beyond any previous generation (yes many are seeking chemical resolutions & operations to fix sexual orientation they identify with, WITHOUT proper psychiatric consultation at alarming rates beginning to backfire) not to mention the usual seeking to be accepted and loved. Many kids (12-25) don't subscribed to previous notions of LOVE ... R&B is pretty much dead, Soul music the same .... I have to dig REALLY far to find these genres with new tracks.

That $25 million could have been used to hire programmers to fix iOS 13 and Catalina. Why are they even in TV/Movie business?

how can you even be an Apple fan without knowing their history here?!
A computer made for artists by artists.
countless WWDC and Macworld events (until the last 3/5yrs) featured Artists playing the finale of the keynote.
Apple ... the FIRST personal computer to play more than 1 sound simultaneously: Apple ][ C !
Apple ... amongst the first computers for anyone to create or edit music on; Atari beat them but was seriously piss poor (I can tell from early house music what software/computer was generated on; it was NOT easy in early 80's).
Apple ... The Crazy Ones ... ad serious featured more than 3 musicians and at least 1 visual artist (Picasso).

Apple ... almost every few years reminds the industry who has THE BEST speakers in desktops/laptops ... imbedded or part of the package: Apple ][C, PowerBook G3 Lombard, PowerBook G4 Titanium, The 20TH Anniversary Mac (TAM) with BOSE sub-woofer shipped, iMac after iMac after iMac, 2019 MBP 16"!

Apple who purchased LOGIC and incorporated Gerhard and his team to create Logic Pro, Soundstage, etc.
Apple who created FinalCut Pro and killed Adobe Premier in less than 2yrs with Adobe's 10yr headstart?

Apple ... by it's existence still does and always has created computers for the artist .... visual, and musical artists are artists not just coders.

 

[steelhauler34]

Hmm...apple seems to have been pretty successful thus far. So I’m guessing they have made some pretty good money making decisions thus far. Money that is required to advance hardware and software technologies offered to consumers.

 

[dazed]

If only this money could have been spent on something more useful like more iOS testers.

 

[Ursadorable]

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

LOL.. I came here to find out if that was a male or female. Couldn't tell from the picture.