Apple Music & Jimmy Kimmel Live partner for 'Up Next' performances & promotion

Artists will not only get to perform on "Jimmy Kimmel," but get a "custom content package," including a live EP, an on-camera Beats 1 interview, and inclusion in audio and video playlists for new artists, Variety said on Monday. The first group to benefit from the marketing will be the all-boy Korean pop-dance band NCT 127, performing on Oct. 8.

To date Apple has used Up Next to promote one act per month within Apple Music, sometimes pushing video to Twitter and YouTube. Some featured artists have included 6LACK, Amy Shark, and Greta Van Fleet, and a few musicians like 6LACK have appeared on "The Late Late Show with James Corden."

Apple has close ties with Corden, since the show "Carpool Karaoke" is a spinoff of a "Late Late Show" segment. The Apple series recently picked up an Outstanding Short Form Variety Series award at the Creative Arts Emmys.

The company regularly tries to straddle the gap between mainstream and independent music. It needs the former for financial reasons and cachet, and the latter for catering to different niches.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live" has upwards of 2 million viewers each week. Apple Music is believed to have about 21 million North American subscribers, out of some 45 million worldwide.