Apple bringing iTunes Festival to the US for the first time at SXSW, for five nights in March

Image via The Loop

Apple has announced that it is bringing the iTunes Festival to the United States for the first time, after being a UK-only event since it began in 2007. The festival will be held at SXSW from March 11th to March 15th, at the Moody Theater.

The show will feature chart-topping acts from Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, Pitbull and ZEDD with more announcements to follow. Just like the UK event, anyone can stream the event for free from their iOS devices, Macs as well as Apple TV.

In the press release, Cue said that the event is a way of sharing Apple’s love of music with customers.

“The iTunes Festival in London has become an incredible way for Apple to share its love of music with our customers,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “We’re excited about the incredible lineup of artists performing and SXSW is the perfect place to debut the first iTunes Festival in the US.”

Tickets for the iTunes Festival can be applied for for free and distributed randomly to applicants. More details about the show can be found here, although currently the page has not yet been updated for the 2014 show.

- 9to5mac.com

Report: Apple focusing iAd sales on iTunes Radio, building real-time exchange for in-app ads

Adweek is reporting that Apple is focusing the iAd sales department almost exclusively on iTunes Radio, rather than developing its in-app ad portfolio, which is how the service originally started. According to the report, Eddy Cue told the advertising unit that iTunes Radio advertisements are a top priority, presumably as Apple is preparing to expand the music service into more countries next year.

AdWeek quotes an ‘apple insider’:

“The message that came across was basically if you’re not working on iTunes Radio, you’re irrelevant,” an Apple insider said.

The report reaffirms suspicions that Apple is quickly expanding its ad sales managers for iTunes Radio, in the wake of news that Apple hired a terrestrial radio ad sales executive last week. The report indicates that although sales managers are focused on iTunes radio campaigns, Apple is quietly working on changing the dynamics of its in-app display advertising as well.

The report says that Apple is developing a real-time bidding exchange to automate the management and distribution of campaigns for advertisers. This system is similar to a stock exchange, where ads are bought and sold dynamically over time. This is a big departure from how iAds was initially envisioned as a platform for distinct, big-budget movie-like campaigns. Adweek speculates that the real-time system would make iAds more accessible both in terms of adversity diversity and price.

Written by: Benjamin Mayo @BenjaminZAMayo December 16, 2013/1:10 pm - 9to5mac.com