Another record label honcho joins Apple Music band

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apple music app
Apple Music is doubling down on exclusives.
Photo: Ste Smith

Apple Music is starting to look more and more like a record label, and it appears the company plans to double down on artist exclusives with the hiring of former Epic Records executive Scott Seviour.

The hire was first spotted on LinkedIn by Business Insider and then confirmed by Apple. The company did not comment further on Seviour’s specific role, other than that he’ll be working on Apple Music.

During his time at Epic Records, Seviour worked heavily in A&R, finding new talent to sign and developing artists for the label. Seviour also handled video production at Epic. That will be a huge plus for Apple Music, which has struck exclusive deals with artists and funds their music videos.

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Apple Music has earned some scorn from major record labels like Universal Music Group. The world’s biggest record label decided to ban its artists from signing exclusive deals with Apple Music after Frank Ocean debuted his new album, Blonde, on the service.

Artist exclusives from the likes of Drake, Chance the Rapper, Future, Dr. Dre, Britney Spears, Pharrell, DJ Khaled and Taylor Swift have helped Apple Music boost its paid subscriber count to 17 million within the last month. Rival Spotify has 40 million paid subscribers now, but is still struggling to turn a profit.

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