Florence and the Machine and a dozen other music artists have been given exclusive deals by Apple Inc. for promoting a revamped version of Beats Music and persuading the music fans to ante up for getting the same thing that they are accustomed to getting without paying a dime. The British group, which is scheduled to release an album in June, is in talks with the iPhone maker about giving the company limited streaming rights to a song. Apart from that, others such as Taylor Swift have also been approached by Apple for partnerships, according to people with knowledge about the matter.
The idea behind these deals is that music lovers who are loathe to pay subscriptions to services will be convinced by the stars themselves. A similar tactic has been implemented by another streaming service called Tidal, which is owned by Jay Z and about 16 other stars in the music industry as they are attempting to steal the march from platforms such as YouTube and Spotify that allow people to listen glatis, as long as they are willing to deal with some ads. The offering from Apple Inc., who is the pioneer behind iTunes, the largest seller of music in the world, is just the most-watch subscription effort made by the firm.
According to some industry experts, it will be an interesting entry as the American giant will come into the industry armed with a complete ecosystem of devices with a rabid and loyal fan base. This means that a lot of the infrastructure that others need already exists for Apple. As per the reports, Beats Music will be retooled and then re-launched soon, probably with a new name. Individuals will be able to take advantage of a $9.99 month subscription whereas $14.99 will be needed for subscribing to a family plan.
Tidal, which is charging $9.99 for the standard package and $19.99 for the high-fidelity package is hyping exclusive tracks from two of its owners, Rihanna and Beyonce. Some experts are of the opinion any subscription-needing streaming service would have to offer something really unique to people to make it worthwhile and Apple could actually have that with the Beats name. The smartphone giant bought the headphone maker and streaming service in May, 2014 for $3 billion. Beats Electronics is the largest acquisition made by Apple. Co-founders Dr Dre., the producer and rapper, and the former chairman of the record label Interscope Geffen A&M, Jimmy Iovine joined Apple for working with it on the iTunes music platform.
No comments were made by labels representing Swift and Florence and the Machine and neither were Apple’s spokespeople forthcoming. Other platforms are interested in knowing how much Apple will leverage iTunes and the iTunes Radio. The giants that will be toppled if Apple does succeed will include names like Spotify, the streaming service with about 60 million users, and Google’s YouTube, which has been the top online spot for music and introduced Music Key, an ad-free service for its customers.
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