How Apple’s Zane Lowe became music’s unofficial therapist

Zane Lowe, Global Creative Director of Apple Music, has been profiled today by The New York Times.

After hosting a global music show on BBC Radio 1 from 2003–2015, Lowe began hosting his own show on Apple’s international radio station, Beats 1.

Melena Ryzik for The New York Times:

Justin Bieber cried. Hayley Williams too.

Sitting in a studio in Culver City, Calif., opposite Zane Lowe, the grey-stubbled Beats 1 host and Apple Music honcho, musicians tend to unspool, even shed a tear. They talk about their albums, but also their divorces and regrets, their influences and coping mechanisms. It’s therapy, but for an audience of millions, and with a propulsive, ever-enthusiastic host who also helps shapes the narrative, and the placement, of the songs we hear.

As one of the largest digital music services, Apple is a must-visit for musicians pitching a record, and Lowe — who, as Apple Music’s global creative director and head of artist relations, helps oversee programming for its radio station Beats 1, and anchors several shows — is its cheerleading emissary…

Since 2014, when Lowe, now 46, was recruited from London and the BBC to join Apple in California, he has emerged as a trusted figure — a hyped-up fan stand-in who artists also view as a peer and a pleasure to talk to. But over the past year, Lowe’s role has shifted. His conversations started veering into how the creative process intersects with mental illness or emotional stability, and he leaned into it, using himself as an example: He has anxiety, he will freely tell you, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

MacDailyNews Take: Here are a couple of examples of Zane Lowe interviews: