PASADENA — Ask Jimmy Iovine about the long-range plans he and Apple Music executives have for the company and he’ll tell you there are no such plans — and, more importantly, no limitations.
“We’re going to do whatever hits popular culture smack on the nose,” he told reporters at the Television Critics Association Press Tour.
Apple Music surprised Hollywood insiders last July when it won a bidding war for “Carpool Karaoke,” an unscripted series based on the highly popular segment of CBS’ “The Late Late Show with James Corden.” It was among the early signs that Apple Music is interested in expanding into original video content and beyond.
Iovine appeared here to promote his upcoming HBO documentary “The Defiant Ones,” which tells the story of his long-running partnership with Dr. Dre. Among their collaborations was Beats Electronics, which Apple bought for $3 billion in 2014. The deal gave both Iovine and Dr. Dre senior titles at the Cupertino-based tech giant.
As for Apple Music, it will be whatever it can be.
“What we’re trying to create is an entire cultural, pop cultural experience and that happens to include audio and video,” he said. “If ‘South Park’ walks into my office, I am not going to say you’re not musicians, you know?”
After the panel session, Iovine expanded on his comments and likened the philosophy of Apple Music to his early days at Interscope Records, the company he co-founded in 1990 and where he first met Dr. Dre.
“When I started Interscope, I had no idea it was going to be hip-hop,” he said. “When Dre walked through the door, I said ‘I have no idea about your music, but your (stuff) sounds amazing. I just knew he was talented.”
When Iovine was reminded of the vast number companies involved with original television programming, he again recalled his Interscope days.
“When I started, there were 14 new labels and 25 established labels,” he said. “You just run your own race. If you make stuff that’s interesting, you’re going to be OK. I think we’ve got a shot. … I don’t think about competition.”
“Carpool Karaoke,” which does not yet have a premiere date, will be Apple Music’s first TV show. It’s based on the viral segments in which Corden drives around in a car with a musician singing hit songs.
The Apple Music version will differ in that it will consist of 16 half-hour episodes with 16 different hosts. Among the pairings will be Seth MacFarlane and Ariana Grande, John Legend and Alicia Keys, Billy Eichner and Metallica and Blake Shelton and Chelsea Handler. (Corden will do one episode with Will Smith).
Ben Winston, the executive producer of “The Late Late Show,” appeared with Corden earlier in the tour. He said the “Carpool Karaoke” shows for Apple Music will follow more of an interview format.
“It’s (about) putting two people together in a beautiful interview setting where they go and do certain things,” he said. “They learn about each other’s lives. They ask each other questions, and they also sing in a car.”
Corden apparently is excited to be working with Apple.
“There’s a musicality that has run through that company for as long as I can remember,” he said. “I can remember so vividly when I got my first iPod and just thinking this has changed everything for me that I’m no longer carrying around a CaseLogic with 50 CDs in it. And the musicality that runs top to bottom with that company is, I think, what makes the show speak to them.”
