Apple Music to sponsor Drake's 'Summer Sixteen' tour

Rapper Drake on Monday announced his upcoming "Summer Sixteen" tour, notably highlighting Apple Music as a sponsor — the first time Apple Music is believed to have backed any concert tour.

The rapper revealed the news on Instagram. The tour will open July 20 in Austin, Tex., also featuring acts like Future, Roy Woods, and DVSN.

Drake has developed a close business relationship with Apple. The company funded the extremely popular music video for "Hotline Bling," and had him appear on stage during last year's Worldwide Developers Conference to pitch Apple Music. Drake's latest album, Views From the 6, will initially be an Apple Music exclusive when it launches on April 29 — the same day as Summer Sixteen tickets go on sale.

Last year Apple rebranded its iTunes Festival in London as the Apple Music Festival, but supporting tours is a new approach.

Apple Music's main competitors in streaming, Spotify and Tidal, also sponsor concerts. Spotify, for instance, regularly hosts a "Spotify House" during Austin's annual SXSW festival.

In October 2015, reports claimed that the agency representing British pop singer Adele was pitching Apple on a $30 million tour sponsorship. No deal ever materialized however, possibly because one proposed term allegedly involved Apple stocking Adele CDs in its stores — something highly unlikely given the existence of Apple Music and the iTunes Store.

16 Comments

cnocbui 3612 comments · 17 Years

About 8 years ago

Apple decide not to sponsor Adele tour, choose Drake instead.

Eddie Cue reported to have asked: 'Why you looking at me like that, guys?'

NY1822 620 comments · 8 Years

cnocbui said:

Apple decide not to sponsor Adele tour, choose Drake instead.

Eddie Cue reported to have asked: 'Why you looking at me like that, guys?'

just as a point of reference, not that this is the end all be all, however, it does matter…Drake has 21.6 Instagram followers and Adele only has 10.6.....so for Marketing/Promotion...more bang for their buck
(21.6 Million vs 10.6 Million)

NY1822 said:

cnocbui said:

Apple decide not to sponsor Adele tour, choose Drake instead.

Eddie Cue reported to have asked: 'Why you looking at me like that, guys?'

just as a point of reference, not that this is the end all be all, however, it does matter…Drake has 21.6 Instagram followers and Adele only has 10.6.....so for Marketing/Promotion...more bang for their buck

Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaacccching ....and.... no, he misses.

cnocbui said:

NY1822 said:

just as a point of reference, not that this is the end all be all, however, it does matter…Drake has 21.6 Instagram followers and Adele only has 10.6.....so for Marketing/Promotion...more bang for their buck

Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaacccching ....and.... no, he misses.

reaching what? I don't let my personal music preferences get in the way of business sense...I want apple to grow their music subscription and I don't see any problem with them sponsoring an artist with that many followers/fans who is active on social media...And I highly doubt it was a choice between Adele vs Drake..clearly there was more into the decision to not sponsor Adele's tour

ahx1 6 comments · 9 Years

cnocbui said:

Apple decide not to sponsor Adele tour, choose Drake instead.

Eddie Cue reported to have asked: 'Why you looking at me like that, guys?'

let's not forget Drake was also ON STAGE to launch Apple Music. Has his own show on Beats 1, releases all his singles exclusively on Apple Music first etc.... so this makes 100% sense to have happened.