Jimmy Iovine Opens up About Frank Ocean & Kanye West Streaming Deals

Earlier this year after releasing his albums Blonde and Endless, Frank Ocean revealed why he disappeared for such a long time. He explained that he departed from Def Jam to partner with Apple to drop Blonde independently. Apple Music executives Jimmy Iovine and Larry Jackson opened up about the situation in a new interview with The New York Times. Iovine stresses that he is not involved with Frank’s departure from Def Jam: “We wanted to work with Frank Ocean. We had a deal—we were working with Frank Ocean, and he controlled where his music came out. Why would it be in our interest to be part of a fast one, a slow one or any one? We were getting the record no matter what. Whatever happened with him and Universal is really between him and Universal. It has nothing to do with us. Nothing.”

Iovine also spoke on Kanye West’s decision to put out The Life of Pablo on JAY Z’s TIDAL instead of with Apple: “He was part of Jay’s thing and chose to make a deal with his friend, and I respect that. I kind of felt like it was going to happen before it did. Jay Z and Kanye — that’s a very natural thing for them to work together. Everybody moves on. You try to do the best with what you’ve got and ignore everything else. That’s why horses get blinders in horse racing: You look at the horse next to you, and you lose a step.”

Read the full interview here.