Wall Street Journal:
More than a decade after it revolutionized music ownership with digital downloads through iTunes, Apple Inc. is again trying to change how consumers listen to their favorite songs with a new subscription streaming service and a renewed push into Internet radio.
At its developers’ conference next week, Apple is expected to announce a new set of music services, putting the company in competition with Spotify, the world’s leading streaming service, as well as Internet-radio player Pandora and even traditional broadcast stations.
These stories are leaking now ahead of next week’s WWDC. While the fine details may be wrong, it’s pretty common knowledge that Apple will announce their Beats (or whatever it will be called) streaming service next week. The biggest question is what will that service entail feature-wise. This WSJ article might have some of that information correct.
Hope the rumor about paying Drake $19M is wrong. In fact, it must be.
Considering how much their headphones suck, I have my doubts the streaming service will be any good either. I hope Apple is in the process of making this new part of the company more Apple-like. Either way, I’m not really interested in another streaming service that doesn’t do something radically different than the current crop.
Beats Music has been around for over a year. It’s quite good, and strove to set itself apart (better curation, meant-to-be-better recommendations, higher audio quality, fuller track data), though in typical Apple fashion it’s been in something of a suspended animation since the acquisition.