What you need to know
- Apple apparently tried to buy the music streaming platform Verzuz.
- The company was acquired by Triller in March.
Apple apparently tried to buy Verzuz, a rap-battle music platform, to expand Apple Music..
As reported by Bloomberg, Apple recently attempted to purchase Verzuz, a live streaming music platform that was acquired by Triller back in March. According to the report, Triller made an offer that was higher than Apple's bid.
The Cupertino, California-based company showed interest in acquiring Verzuz, and while the iPhone maker didn't engage in a bidding war, it did provide a price for Verzuz that ended up being lower than what Triller paid, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private.Created by rappers Swizz Beatz and Timbaland -- and backed by dozens of other popular artists -- Verzuz lets users livestream rap battles and other musical showdowns. The competitions, friendly ones between performers, stream on Instagram and became particularly popular during the downtime brought on by pandemic lockdowns.Verzuz was acquired by Triller for an undisclosed price. If Apple had bought it, the service could have offered additional content and more social elements inside of Apple Music.
Apple Music previously had a deal to livestream some Verzuz shows, but that is now over since the company was acquired by Triller.
Apple agreed to a deal last July to have each rap battle streamed live on Apple Music and Beats 1 at the same time as the Verzuz Instagram Live channel. The Triller deal marked the end of that partnership, Variety reported in March.
Bloomberg had reached out for comment but Apple declined and Verzuz did not respond.
