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# Jimmy Iovine On Apple Music, Taylor Swift, Jay Z, Zane Lowe, Napster
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/jimmy-iovine-on-apple-music-taylor-swift-jay-z-zane-lowe-napster/
- Published: 2015-08-06T13:23:29.000Z
- Updated: 2015-08-06T13:23:29.000Z
- Description: In a new interview, Apple Music executive Jimmy Iovine shares stories about tempting Zane Lowe to leave the BBC, facing the wrath of Taylor Swift, Jay Z and the inner workings. Continue reading [https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2015/08/jimmy-iovine-on-apple-music-taylor-swift-jay-z-zane-lowe-napster.
- Author: Bruce Houghton
- Tags: Music Business, Streaming, Apple Inc., Evening Standard, iTunes, Jay-Z, Jimmy Iovine, Kanye West, MTV Video Music Award, Spotify, Taylor Swift, Zane Lowe, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 10:28

[![image from cimg.tvgcdn.net](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201bb085f1045970d-150wi "image from cimg.tvgcdn.net")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201bb085f1045970d-popup?ref=hypebot.com)In a new interview, **Apple Music** executive **Jimmy Iovine** shares stories about tempting **Zane Lowe** to leave the BBC, facing the wrath of **Taylor Swift, Jay Z** and the inner workings of Apple Music. Here are **the highlights:**

*From the [Evening Standard](http://www.standard.co.uk/stayingin/tech-gaming/jimmy-iovine-interview-producer-talks-apple-music-zane-lowe-and-taylor-swift-s-wrath-10442663.html?ref=hypebot.com)*

**Iovine On Taylor Swift**

[![Apple-logo](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b8d144bdf2970c-150wi "Apple-logo")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b8d144bdf2970c-popup?ref=hypebot.com)

“Eddy \[Cue, Apple senior VP\] woke up on Sunday morning. He called me and said, ‘This is a drag’. I was like, ‘Yeah, maybe there’s some stuff she doesn’t understand’. He said, ‘Why don’t you give Scott \[Borchetta, Swift’s label boss\] a call? I called Scott, I called Eddy back, Eddy and Tim \[Cook, Apple CEO\] called me back and we said, ‘Hey, you know what, we want this system to be right and we want artists to be comfortable, let’s do it’.”

**On The Competition**

> “There’s a lot of \[them\]. Music deserves elegance and the distribution right now is not great. It’s all over the place and there are a bunch of utilities. That’s the best you can find. It’s basically a really narrow, small, inelegant way to have music delivered. So it’s sterile, programmed by algorithms and numbing.”

**On Zane Lowe**

> “What he’s done in 19 weeks shouldn’t have been possible” Was it easy to convince Lowe to leave the BBC? “It wasn’t easy but that was my job and I come from a world of knowing when someone is special."

**On Napster**

> “Napster hit me on the side of the head. The minute I saw it I was like, we are in trouble. I knew the record industry wouldn’t know how to handle it. I said, ‘OK, let’s try to embrace the tech industry’. \[From 2000\] I spent three years looking for a relationship in tech we could work with.”

[![Tidal logo](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201bb085f1085970d-150wi "Tidal logo")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201bb085f1085970d-popup?ref=hypebot.com)

On Jay Z and Tidal

> “I know Jay, he’s a fabulous cat, but I’m not involved in his streaming service,” he says. “I don’t look at Spotify or Rdio or any of these guys as a direct competitor, I look at other forms of entertainment as the competitor. Not everybody can do this but I think the team I’ve put together can. I always say, I love chocolate but I’m not Willy Wonka."

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