Apple Launches iTunes Store Initiative for Music-Themed Movies
Billboard reports that Apple has launched a new section of its iTunes Store called "Music Movies" [iTunes Store], featuring video content with a music focus such as music documentaries, concert films, and movie musicals. Apple is also reportedly seeking to strike deals to bring new movie-themed video content to the iTunes Store before such releases are brought to DVD.
The most visible change to the iTunes service will be a Music Movies landing page dedicated to music films such as concert movies, documentaries and music-focused feature films. Additionally, Apple plans to negotiate exclusive access to new music-themed movies to make them available for home distribution on iTunes before the physical DVD makes its way to retail shelves or rental stores.
Billboard notes that Apple is currently featuring pre-orders for It Might Get Loud [iTunes Store], a forthcoming documentary focusing on guitarists The Edge, Jimmy Page, and Jack White, as well as older content such as John Lennon's Imagine, Prince's Purple Rain, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The company hopes to increase video sales on iTunes in part by luring music consumers to its library of music-themed movies. While Apple has not released any specific figures, it sells far more music than videos, and hopes to create a strong bridge between its music catalog and its video catalog by focusing on content that appeals to music fans.
The report notes that while DVD sales have experienced a recent slight dip, music-themed DVDs have seen an extraordinary decline in sales, with revenue falling over 50% from 2007 to 2008 and even further since then. Consequently, Apple's push into the promotion of music-themed movies is likely to be well-received by the industry as customers continue to move away from physical media toward downloadable content for their entertainment needs.
Popular Stories
iOS 18.3 should be released to the public next week, following beta testing since mid-December. While the software update is a relatively minor one, it still includes a handful of new features, changes, and bug fixes for iPhones.
Below, we recap everything new in iOS 18.3.
Notification Summary Changes
Examples of inaccurate Apple Intelligence notification summaries
Apple Intelligence...
Apple is set to release iOS 18.3 next week, bringing further refinements to Apple Intelligence features, a couple of neat new capabilities to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 devices, and bug fixes.
While not quite as packed with new features as Apple's preceding iOS 18 point releases, iOS 18.3 still introduces capabilities that aim to make your iPhone smarter and more intuitive. Below, we've...
iOS 18.3 is expected to be widely released next week, and that means the first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner.
Apple has previously implied that iOS 18.4 will be released in April, as that is when it promised to make Apple Intelligence available in even more languages.
Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far.
Apple Intelligence for Siri
Siri ...
Walmart still does not accept Apple Pay or other NFC payments at its more than 4,600 stores across the U.S., and it stood firm on its reasoning for that today.
A spokesperson for Walmart today informed MacRumors that its position on contactless payments has not changed since we last reached out about the matter in 2022. The big-box retailer said it remains focused on its own convenient...
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year. In this article, we recap rumored features and changes for the device.
The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports Wi-Fi 6E, which would be an upgrade over the current Apple TV's standard Wi-Fi 6 support. Wi-Fi 6E extends the...
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 18.3 today, and with it comes release notes confirming what's new. While we knew about several of the features that are in the update, there are some lesser known tweaks and bug fixes.
The update adds new Visual Intelligence features for iPhone 16 models, it tweaks Notification summaries on all...
The upcoming iPhone 17 models that Apple plans to release this year will not feature a smaller Dynamic Island, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today.
On social media, he said that he is expecting the size of the Dynamic Island to remain "largely unchanged" across the iPhone 17 lineup. His statement is contrary to prior rumors that we've heard about planned changes for the iPhone 17 models.
...
It's also time for Apple's first product announcement of the year.
Last year, Apple said it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and the wireless earbuds are expected to launch very soon.
Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code
In his Power On newsletter last weekend, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the...
Apple's retail stores will be rolling out "merchandise/floor marketing updates" next week, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Gurman did not explicitly say if the store updates are related to any upcoming product announcements, but he did mention that next week is around the time that Apple rolls out its annual Black Unity watch band for the Apple Watch.
In each of the past four years, ...
