Mike Peterson
Apple sought to acquire livestreamed rap battle series Verzuz before the platform was bought by Triller, a move that could have brought more social components to Apple Music.
Although Apple didn't engage in a bidding war, it did provide an acquisition price for Verzuz. According to Bloomberg, Apple's offer fell short versus what Triller paid.
Created by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, Verzuz is features two artists going head-to-head in a friendly musical showdown. The series became popular during the early months of the pandemic.
Verzuz also partnered with Apple Music in July 2020 in a deal that saw it stream its musical battles across both Instagram Live and the Apple Music app.
Although Verzuz was an experiment in pushing a more social feature for Apple Music, it wasn't the first. Apple Music initially had a Connect platform that could unite fans with artists, as well as a iTunes social network called Ping. Both were quickly discontinued.
The battle series was acquired by video sharing network Triller in March 2021 for an undisclosed price. Since the acquisition, Verzuz content is now streamed through the Triller app.
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Malcolm Owen
Andrew O'Hara
William Gallagher
3 Comments
Wtf?! I thought Apple owned this and it was part of Apple Music?!
Come on Apple... you let TRILLER outbid you?!
Guess it’s time for Apple to acquire Triller for 2 million dollars.
Ok I actually read the article. This is worse than I thought.
So Apple made a deal with Verzuz to add a social element to Apple Music. After failing two times with Ping and Connect, Apple lets slip by the only social element that succeeded?? REALLY?
Is Apple intentionally failing as social?
When the deal was announced there was some speculation that Triller had offered Swizz & Tim some ownership share in the company. I think that’s why they didn’t go with Apple. But I’m not sure how true that is.