Several years ago, Apple Music officially unveiled a ‘now-forgotten’ mini-documentary series.
The concept was hatched to spotlight Apple Music’s then-growing indie music catalog. The monthly series – dubbed Up Next – would focus on up-and-coming artists.
The first Up Next series placed the spotlight on both the professional and personal upbringing of Ricardo Valdez Valentine, better known as 6LACK. His Up Next biography reads,
“Considering he made his recording debut at the age of four, you could say that 6LACK – pronounced “black” – was born to do this. The singer/rapper transcended the Atlanta underground with last year’s “PRBLMS”, a bold showcase of late-night, R&B-inflected hip-hop.
“The unfiltered personal narratives of his full-length debut, FREE 6LACK, proved that “PRBLMS” was just the beginning. Explore 6LACK’s blossoming catalog, watch his incredible live performance in Atlanta, and get to know him through our exclusive documentary and in-depth interview with Beats 1’s Zane Lowe.”
Promoting the series on Twitter, Apple Music wrote,
“Introducing #UpNext. Music’s Next Generation. A new artist every month. Up first, @6LACK. http://apple.co/UpNext”
Yet, the documentary soon shifted to featuring mainstream artists on Beats 1 Radio.
Now, a new filing shows Apple Music has plans to seemingly ‘resurrect’ the indie-centered documentary series.
Is ‘Up Next’ up next?
Late last week, the Hong Kong Patent and Trademark Office granted the Cupertino company two design patents for Apple Store shelving designs. The filing comes several weeks after the Canadian Trademark Office granted a registered trademark for Up Next – TMA1023538.
Filed in Canada under the Nice Classification System, Apple Music Nice Classes 38 and 41 read,
“Nice Class 38 – Streaming and broadcasting of live and pre-recorded music performances, music videos, music and interviews featuring musical artists via the Internet, streaming and broadcasting of audio and content video via the Internet in the fields of news, sport, comedy, namely live comedy shows, comedic musical performances and comedy movies, drama, namely live dramatic performances and audio recordings of dramatic performances, music, music videos, television shows, and radio and television programming featuring musical artists, transmission and delivery of audio and video content namely, radio broadcasting services, and audio-on-demand transmission services featuring musical artists.
“Nice Class 41 – Entertainment services in the nature of development, creation, production, and distribution of musical artist video documentary series, entertainment services, namely providing music, interviews, live music performances, and videos featuring musical artists, entertainment services, namely, a musical artist video documentary program series featuring downloadable music, live music performances, interviews and music playlists distributed via websites and computer applications across multiple forms of transmission media namely, wireless computer and broadband networks, local area networks, wide area networks, global computer networks, and the Internet.“
Apple Music had first filed its Up Next trademark in the U.S. on October 21st, 2017.
This prompted Spotify to unveil its own imitation series – Rise. The U.S. granted Apple the trademark – number 5,604,598 – on November 13th, 2018.
Filed under International Class 38 and 41, the American filing has similar wording to Nice Class 41 in Canada.
“Entertainment services in the nature of development, creation, production, and distribution of musical artist video documentary series, entertainment services, namely providing music, interviews, live music performances, and videos featuring musical artists, entertainment services, namely, a multimedia program series featuring musical artists distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media.
“Streaming and broadcasting of performances, documentaries, music, and interviews featuring musical artists, streaming and broadcasting of audio and visual content featuring musical artists; transmission and delivery of audio and visual content featuring musical artists.”
So far, Apple has yet to officially comment on the trademark filings in Hong Kong and Canada. However, based on the copyright wording, expect Apple Music to soon relaunch Up Next around the world.
Featured image by Apple Music.