Apple Seeks Digital DJs To Program iTunes Radio

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Via Rich DeMuro, we learn that Apple is on the hunt for Music Programmers to curate content for their new iTunes Radio service. Potential digital DJs are expected to have 5 years experience and a willingness to attend concerts on the clock with:

a strong understanding and background in how the music business operates. Experience and knowledge in retail, radio, A&R, editorial, record labels, and/or any other music related field(s) is a requirement. We’re in pursuit of an individual who can merchandise new releases in these genres, introduce new music to very knowledgeable communities, come up with creative ways to promote and present music; and program various station formats, within these genres, for iTunes Radio.

Of course one of the reasons we prefer Slacker over Pandora is the human intelligence behind genre playlists and suspect Apple’s new service will similarly benefit from experts in the field. However, unlike competing services and despite a looming shakeout or consolidation, Apple is uniquely positioned to prosper given track and album upsell via their existing, strong retail music business. Being preloaded onto every iPhone, Mac, and Apple TV doesn’t hurt either.

5 thoughts on “Apple Seeks Digital DJs To Program iTunes Radio”

  1. “Of course one of the reasons we prefer Slacker over Pandora is the human intelligence behind genre playlists and suspect Apple’s new service will similarly benefit from experts in the field.”

    Or, you could just listen to KCRW streaming…

  2. And off-topic, but good on Verizon for acting in your best interests in not letting you cut HBO.

    Not only does that give you options to keep you from watching Dexter, but it allows you to catch up on any kickass HBO programming that you’ve missed. I wouldn’t let you cancel until you’d watched Mildred Pierce, for example. You already watch enough teevee. And as we all know, HBO is not teevee.

    (Plus, think of everyone else. If Verizon allows folks cancel HBO, then who will fund the big budget not teevee they produce for the benefit of us all?)

  3. Been trying to cancel since at least 8/13… cray cray. Neither the Twitter team nor the Elite phone support group has been able to push it thru yet. By the by, my mom’s new condo association/fee includes HBO so I’m covered if I need to watch something (that she’s not getting her money’s worth from). Assuming you’ll be OK with the PQ of HBO GO to my Apple TV.

  4. “By the by, my mom’s new condo association/fee includes HBO so I’m covered if I need to watch something”

    Stop cheating HBO! (Though, through various quotes, they seem weirdly OK with folks doing exactly what you’re trying to do. If I were them, I’d authenticate IP on lean-back clients, but they seem to think that running a leaky ship is in their best interests. I assume their thinking is that getting folks hooked on their best-of-breed programming is worth the revenue leakage.)

    “Assuming you’ll be OK with the PQ of HBO GO to my Apple TV.”

    It’s still noticeably worse than Amazon, but it’s noticeably better than Netflix. (Worth mentioning that when I last re-watched Mildred Pierce, I did not hesitate in employing my archived MPEG2 copies rather than HBO Go.)

    OTT PQ is getting to be a fascinating topic as it all starts to come down to peering / local caching issues. Amazon pays for good peering, since they care about good fulfillment. Netflix doesn’t pay for good peering, since they don’t care about PQ. (I assumed you’ve checked out What Netflix Does at some point, which isn’t about peering, but just about Netflix’ general contempt for its customers’ PQ.) And I assume HBO Go doesn’t have to worry about peering, since I assume the files are cached inside the MSO’s.

    But, again, the whole obscure peering thing is a fascinating topic to me in general. It’s the battle that happens before the bandwidth cap battle happens…

  5. What apple seems to leave out is the fact that musicologists and true musicians with a music theory background and ear mastery of performance have a big play on how their search system will work along with music discovery. To be honest.. I don’t know what apple is doing behind the scenes but the theoretical knowledge tied to automation is what makes pandora successful.

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