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Image / Editorial

Apple Boss Says Finding Music Online Is ?Too Difficult? For Women


By Jennifer McShane
20th Nov 2015
Apple Boss Says Finding Music Online Is ?Too Difficult? For Women

In 2015, it’s safe to say that women can do anything they put their minds to. From incredible businesswomen who are making vast strides in their respective industries to those making a difference in politics, and female public figures that are determined to see women better represented on screen, there is seemingly nothing we can’t do. We are intelligent and frequently inspirational but continue to often be underestimated and undervalued. And that’s why to even write the headline above is enough to incite this writer’s frustration and anger.

According to Apple Music boss Jimmy Iovine, our ‘difficulties? finding music online is something we should be concerned about, because, you know, we can’t locate songs (presumably the heartbreaking kind in which we’ve been dumped by our former spouses) by ourselves. To put that into perspective, we can, for example, set up companies, give birth to children (and the rest), yet the online world of music appears to be far beyond our coping mechanisms. As if.

Iovine went on CBS This Morning to explain how his new playlist function was inspired by his realisation that women needed help locating tunes on the Internet. Here’s what he said:

?I’ve always known that women find it very difficult at times to find music,? he explained. ?And this helps makes it easier with playlists curated by real people.?

?I just thought of a problem, you know, girls sitting around talking about boys, right, or complaining about boys when they’re heartbroken or whatever. They need music for that, right? So it’s hard to find the right music. Not everyone has the right list or knows a DJ or something.?

Please spare us your utterly sexist comments. We’d imagine there are few women who don’t know that Adele’s new album is available online today, for example, and we’re certain that not every female sits around wanting to search for songs after they’ve been ?heartbroken by boys.? Some might, which is fair enough, but why generalise?

Iovine, who co-founded Beats by Dre (which was bought by Apple in May 2014), has since been forced to apologise.

?We created Apple Music to make finding the right music easier for everyone – men and women, young and old,? he said. “Our new ad focuses on women, which is why I answered the way I did, but, of course, the same applies equally to men. I could have chosen my words better, and I apologise.?

What’s worse is that he was on air to attempt to promote a new ad campaign featuring powerful women such as Kerry Washington, Mary J Blige and Empire star Taraji P Henson, which was and presumably designed to appeal to a female audience. Needless to say, his comments had the opposite effect.

Naturally, he likely didn’t intend to insult his target audience but for future reference, we advise that he steer way clear of the derogatory comments.

Via The Independent