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Apple Buys Rights to 'Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives' Documentary

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Apple purchased the rights to the documentary "Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives," reports Billboard. The documentary will premiere tonight at the Tribeca Film Festival at the Radio City Music Hall in New York.

The film was directed by Chris Perkel and is based on music producer Clive Davis' autobiography, released in 2013. Davis was the president of Columbia Records from 1967 to 1975, and he founded Arista Records, where he was president of the company until 2000. He went on to found J Records, and then served as CEO and chairman of RCA Music Group.

clivedavisdocumentary.jpg

At the current time, Davis is the chief creative officer at Sony Music Entertainment. Davis has influenced many important music artists over the course of his career, including Whitney Houston, Barry Manilow, Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys, Santana, Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, and more.
"Apple is a global innovator that has revolutionized the distribution of music," said Davis in a statement. "It is a touching honor to share the music and unique stories that have shaped my career with millions of Apple Music subscribers around the world. I am overjoyed to work with them to continue this incredible journey!"
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Apple has not announced when it plans to release "Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives," on Apple Music, nor has the company said whether the film will have a theatrical release.

Article Link: Apple Buys Rights to 'Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives' Documentary
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/04/19/apple-clive-davis-documentary/
Juan007

Juan007

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Jun 14, 2010
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Aren't there better things to spend money on? Maybe Apple's bank account balance is overflowing, they need to buy something, otherwise it's stuck at $999,999,999,999.99.
 
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RowellE

RowellE

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't "The Soundtrack of Our Lives" also once used as the slogan for the iPod?
 
S

satchmo

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Perhaps its just the type of music Tim likes and grew up listening to. Not unlike Jobs love of the Beatles and Bob Dylan.
 
Bart Kela

Bart Kela

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usarioclave said:
Is this a real distribution deal? Some bizarre way to curry favor with Clive? Or both?
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My understanding -- limited to the stuff I have read online -- is that this deal is restricted to streaming rights, not the full spectrum of distribution channels such as theatrical release, optical disc sales (and rental), etc.

And there's no word on the deals of the streaming rights deal. It might be a short-term exclusivity contract that limits streaming to Apple Music only for the first __ days, after which time other streaming services could sign with the producers to also provide streaming. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed either.

The news item invites more questions without providing answers. We probably will never know all the answers since the details of such contracts are typically kept confidential, nor will will know how profitable of a venture for Apple this will be.

Also, my guess is that the business development folks for content deals such as this aren't the same people working on designing new Mac Pros.
 
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JayIsAwesome

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I wonder if Clive, in the documentary, talks about why he thought it was perfectly ok to have a party in the same building where Whitney passed away mere hours earlier? Always thought that was strange as hell and a tad bit disgusting
 
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jrwally74

jrwally74

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Oct 9, 2016
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Porco said:
Ageing UK reference alert, but at first glance thought I just saw Apple bought a film about when Eastenders' Frank Butcher met Whitney Houston...
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Yep, I never knew that "Cracking America" and "Died" meant the same thing?
 
Zedcars

Zedcars

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Porco said:
Ageing UK reference alert, but at first glance thought I just saw Apple bought a film about when Eastenders' Frank Butcher met Whitney Houston...
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Same here. The likeness is uncanny! :D

I'd never actually heard of this chap before this announcement - despite being a musician myself. Seems like he was a prominent figure in the industry though. I personally don't have any problem with Apple branching out into content creation. I do have a problem with them not updating the Macs very frequently, but it's not like these things are organised by the same people inside Apple.
 
T

thekeyring

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Interested to see where their content strategy takes them. I know Jimmy keeps likening them to MTV, but I really hope we don't end up with reality shows on Apple Music like "Ex on the Beach", it'll really devalue the Apple brand in my opinion.
 
jjhny

jjhny

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Sep 16, 2005
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Fascinating conundrum... Apple wants to buy content (and not very good content at that), yet irresponsibly dragged their feet on making the hardware, that makes the content, that people want to buy...

They squandered the area they had control of for an area they know nothing about. Maybe Apple shouldn't be run by the 'supply chain guy.' Maybe he is in way over his head.
 
vkd

vkd

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Sep 10, 2012
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Outside of North America nobody has even heard of this bloke.
 
78Bandit

78Bandit

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JayIsAwesome said:
I wonder if Clive, in the documentary, talks about why he thought it was perfectly ok to have a party in the same building where Whitney passed away mere hours earlier? Always thought that was strange as hell and a tad bit disgusting
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To be fair, it wasn't generally known that Whitney had passed away until right around the time the party started. The police had done what they could to keep that information private in an effort to keep gawkers away from the hotel room they were doing their investigation in and where Whitney's body remained until the medical examiner got done.

The party was already underway, the press was all around, and the celebrities had already arrived. Did you expect everyone to just go home? Keep in mind at the time Whitney was perceived as a has-been with her best days well behind her and her drug problems consuming her life. She was just one in a number of artists attending Davis' party and was not the center of attention as other high-profile artists like Cee Lo Green, Miley Cyrus, Jenifer Hudson, Tony Bennett, and Elvis Costello were participants too. The party was about Davis, not Whitney.

It is only after her death that she has been immortalized as one of the best singers of all time, but that is based on her performances from about 1985 - 2000, which not coincidentally was the time she spent being produced by Davis. After then she got heavily involved in drugs, exhibited erratic behavior, participated in the ill-advised reality show "Being Bobby Brown", and tried a comeback tour where her vocal ability was roundly criticized and concert goers routinely walked out in the middle of her performance.

The public now remembers Whitney at her best much like they do with Elvis and Michael Jackson. The later years of decline are conveniently white-washed away in people's memories.
 
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zoetmb

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Oct 8, 2007
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AngerDanger said:
How can Apple possibly justify this expenditure when there are certain products I'd prefer they update?! :mad:
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What does buying content have to do with designing and manufacturing hardware? Have you ever gotten the impression that Apple isn't doing something because there's not enough cash? If they don't do something, there are other reasons why. It's fair enough to complain that the MacPro isn't coming out soon enough or that you want a new Mini or that the iMac needs updating or whatever, but it's not because they bought the rights to some documentary.
 
AngerDanger

AngerDanger

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Dec 9, 2008
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garylapointe said:
Those updates take time and research and development.

This was just having to click "BUY NOW"...
Not even the same department as product development.
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Abazigal said:
Because it isn't just about you?
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zoetmb said:
What does buying content have to do with designing and manufacturing hardware? Have you ever gotten the impression that Apple isn't doing something because there's not enough cash? If they don't do something, there are other reasons why. It's fair enough to complain that the MacPro isn't coming out soon enough or that you want a new Mini or that the iMac needs updating or whatever, but it's not because they bought the rights to some documentary.
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'Twas a joke parodying the standard comments that about every new purchase somehow magically taking focus away from Macs.
 
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