Swizz Beatz & Timbaland’s VERZUZ Partners Exclusively With Apple Music

and had the genius idea to use their massive social media reach and launched the popular VERZUZ Instagram Live battles, one of the most inventive uses of the platform due to the COVID-19 shutdown. Now, the super-producers are reaping the benefits of their brilliance, inking an exclusive deal with Apple Music to host the friendly competition series.

As reported by Music Business Worldwide, the VERZUZ platform making its shift from Instagram to Apple Music and Beats 1 is a fitting ascension to what has become an event in music and entertainment circles since live shows, touring, and other means of performances have been altered by the coronavirus spread.

After launching this past March, VERZUZ has continued to defy convention with viewership going through the roof for the now-classic friendly clash between longtime rivals Beenie Man and Bounty Killah, and the warm lovefest between Jill Scott and Erykah Badu.

The VERZUZ battles will now air live and for free on the Apple Music and Beats 1 platforms along with still airing on Instagram Live, and each battle can be access an on-demand feature at a later date.

In a written press statement, the minds behind VERZUZ expressed that the platform was launched due to ” a desire for community during this era of distancing, these time-stopping events have become a celebration of the parallel artistry of hip-hop and R&B’s biggest songwriters, producers, and artists, pitting them against each other in good-natured face-offs that have made for some of the best entertainment in music since live concerts.”

The next big battle to take place features Hip-Hop veterans , two of the most potent acts from the 1990s with catalogs celebrated by fans worldwide. That VERZUZ battle kicks off on Wednesday, July 22 at 8PM ET.

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