Apple created music videos in-house with Drake, Pharrell, Eminem, and M.I.A. for Apple Music
M.I.A. Audiovisual Project “Matahdatah Scroll 01 Broader Than a Border” Coming to Apple Music — The launch of Apple Music hasn't only included a new radio station, social network, and streaming service.
Context & Ripple Effects
At launch, Apple Music was pitched as more than a streaming catalog: a radio station, a social layer for artists, and now commissioned visuals. By producing videos in-house with Drake, Pharrell, Eminem, and M.I.A. — starting with M.I.A.'s 'Matahdatah Scroll 01 Broader Than a Border' — Apple is treating video as core product rather than promotional garnish.
That bet compounds over the following years in the related coverage: within months Apple is using its own productions as marketing muscle, with a Dr. Dre clip among TV-style productions repurposed to sell Apple Music, and by 2020 the strategy lands as a destination, when Apple Music TV turns curated music videos into a free 24-hour livestream.
First-order effects
- The four artists get Apple-funded visuals premiering inside Apple Music, giving subscribers exclusive video alongside the audio catalog at launch.
Second-order effects
- Rival streaming services face pressure to fund or license their own original video to match, since Apple has made visuals part of the subscription pitch rather than an optional extra.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — originals as marketing, then artist-facing analytics dashboards, then a dedicated video channel — music services consolidate into vertically integrated media companies that commission, distribute, and measure artist content themselves.
The trend: Music streaming platforms are evolving from catalogs into original video producers, with exclusive artist visuals as the differentiation lever.