Almost two years after it premiered at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival, a film documenting the story of the Roland TR-808 drum machine, appropriately titled 808, will debut Dec. 9 as an Apple Music exclusive, then become available in the iTunes Movies store for download and rental on Dec. 16. The movie, produced by You Know Films in association with Atlantic Films, documents the story of how the drum machine became one of the most iconic musical instruments of the past 40 years despite only being in production from 1980 through 1983.
808 was written by Alexander Dunn and Luke Bainbridge and produced by Alex Noyer, who also serves as executive producer; Alexander Dunn, who directed the film; Atlantic Records chairman/co-CEO Craig Kallman; and Arthur Baker, also a co-executive producer.
Narrated by Beats 1's Zane Lowe, it includes wide-ranging interviews with the likes of Afrika Bambaataa, Questlove, Pharrell, Rick Rubin, David Guetta, Phil Collins and several more, each of which pay tribute to the over-arching influence of a machine that changed the sound of music.