Apple is looking to bolster Apple Music with an original TV series

Apple is already making some original TV content, but now it wants more to add to Apple Music. According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple wants to buy in a drama series from an outside production company (just as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video do) and bundle it with its Apple Music service. It's hoped this would help make the service a more compelling option than arch rival Spotify for potential subscribers.

Apple's current original productions include a biopic of Dr. Dre (who is now an Apple executive), a documentary about Cash Money Records and a reality show called Planet of the Apps that follows app makers as they try to make it big on the App Store.

However, the report says Apple wants a new drama series to add to its roster, one that will rival HBO and Sky's Westworld and Netflix's Stranger Things for popularity.

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Last year, Apple said that, while it would invest in original TV and film content, it wouldn't become a fully fledged studio in its own right. It seems the firm sees original TV and film content as an addition to Apple Music, rather than a revenue stream in its own right - it sees itself competing more with Spotify than Netflix.

Apple Music and Spotify have pretty much the same music library, bar a few exclusives. But Spotify has the advantage of having had a decent head start on Apple Music, plus a more intuitive interface.

Any additional appeal to consumers in the form of video content should, then, help give Apple a boost against Spotify. Recently it has been rumoured that Apple wants to bring blockbuster movies to iTunes just two weeks after they are screened in cinemas. It has also commissioned 16 episodes of Carpool Karaoke, a spinoff from The Late Late Show with James Corden. So Apple's interest in TV and film content is clear. The question for potential subscribers, then, is how far down the video route will it go?

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