A range of Apple's cloud-based services, including the App Store, iTunes, and even OS X Software Update were affected on Tuesday, likely from excess traffic associated with MTV's 2015 Video Music Awards nominees exclusively revealed on Beats 1.
Apple's own System Status page indicates that the outage began on Tuesday just before 10 a.m. Eastern. That's when MTV had advertised it would announce the 2015 VMA nominees on Apple's Beats 1 radio station.
The outage affected a wide range of Apple's online services, including the Apple TV, iBooks Store, iTunes Match, iTunes U, and the Mac App Store. Also affected were Apple Radio and Apple Music.
According to Apple, only some users were affected by the outage, which applied to all of the company's store services. A reason for the outage was not specifically given, as Apple simply said it was "investigating" the matter.
The outage's presumed connection to the VMA nominees puts the spotlight once again on Apple's online services, and their ability to stay online in the face of an influx of traffic. Apple has made a major push for exclusive content on Apple Music and Beats 1 since the services launched last month.