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Watch the latest Apple Music ads, ft. Flying Lotus and Shamir

Around a month ago Flying Lotus and Shamir both appeared, among other artists, in a slick and heartwarming advertisement for Apple Music. Their brief appearances in the Trent Reznor-narrated clip obviously caught the attention of a few fans, as they now have their very own promotional ads. The simple black and white clips feature intimate close-ups of each artist performing. Flying Lotus’ ad is a minimalist performance supercut, Jamir plays an unexpected acoustic version of Demon.

In a time when they are still growing and creating a brand image for themselves, Apple Music’s choice of artist for their advertisements is of ultimate importance. It’s interesting to see that they’ve chosen artists like Shamir and FlyLo over perhaps more popular and well-known pop acts: we’d be less surprised if they’d have used bigger crossover artists like The Weeknd and Miguel. Instead they are going with artists who not only produce two completely different sounds, but artists – particularly FlyLo – revered for their experimental exploration. It sets up Apple Music as a forum of quality music, untainted by commercial prejudice or pop sensibilities.

One of the stalwarts of experimental electronic and hip hop music today, Flying Lotus last visited Australia at the start of 2015 to perform at St Jerome’s Laneway Festival. Headlining the festival alongside Jon Hopkins, his set was absolutely mind-blowing, incorporating lights and visual graphics to create an immersive experience.

There is still a lot of debate around how successful Apple Music will be, as we are dealing with such a new method of generating revenue from creative property. Some people say that once the free trial period is over and users start being prompted to pay, the numbers will drop and Apple Musics will slump. That being said, statistically they seem to be off to a roaring good start, and its hard to fault their market strategy.