Apple delighted its domestic fans last month when it confirmed that this year’s iTunes Festival would take place for the first time in the United States during the South By Southwest (SXSW) convention in Austin, Texas.
Attracting artists as diverse as Imagine Dragons and Willie Nelson, this year’s ongoing iTunes Festival appears to have been a smashing success so far.
That admission came straight from Apple on Wednesday.
Apple’s SVP of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue, says he is thrilled that Apple found success with iTunes Festival in the U.S. In fact, Cue was never certain that the festival would take place on U.S. soil, let alone become the annual phenomenon it now is.
“I wasn’t sure we would ever bring it to the U.S.,” Cue admits to Fortune magazine. “We have something so special at the festival in London that you had the feeling that if you did it anywhere else, it just wasn’t going to be quite good enough. You have to have the right place. The combination of Austin, which has a culture of music, and this venue is fantastic — it’s made for music.”
By Cue’s own acknowledgement, Apple didn’t come to SXSW to promote its products. Its sole focus is on the music of some of today’s and yesterday’s top artists.
“We’re not trying to pitch our products here — it’s all about the artists and the music,” Cue said. “It’s about the emotion of the artists and the fans… We at Apple take a lot of pride in the festival because we have such admiration for what the artists do.”
