Roger Fingas
As it prepares to launch a new streaming music service, Apple is said to be pressuring music labels to force rivals like Spotify to abandon their free tiers — something that has apparently brought scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Citing multiple sources, The Verge claimed that Department of Justice officials have already interviewed music industry executives about Apple's business practices. In particular, concerns have been raised about Apple using its influence to persuade labels not to renew licenses with Spotify that allow that company to stream music for free. Additionally, Apple allegedly offered to pay YouTube's music licensing fee to Universal Music Group if the latter pulled its songs from YouTube.
"All the way up to Tim Cook, these guys are cutthroat," one of the sources was quoted as saying.
Discouraging free alternatives could help Apple's upcoming service, but those actions could potentially be deemed anti-competitive by the Department of Justice. Early last month, reports surfaced that Apple may already be facing a probe from the European Commission regarding the same issue.
Past reports have indicated that Apple is hoping to score artist exclusives for its new service, and until recently was trying to push for a monthly subscription fee under the industry-standard $10. Record labels appear to have balked, likely worried that increased subscription numbers wouldn't compensate for missing per-subscription revenue.
Apple could make an announcement as soon as the Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8. Little else is known about what the service might look like, except that it's expected to take on the iTunes name, and mark Apple's first major push into the world of on-demand streaming, which has been slowly eating into the marketshare of the iTunes Store.
Stephen Silver
Christine McKee
Charles Martin
Amber Neely
47 Comments
Must be a false rumor. I can't see Apple doing this so soon after the Bromwich thing... Unless the Beats guys are acting outside of Apple's control. .
So this is what Google's lobbying dollars are going to these days. Because Amazon does't really have much of a stick in the fire here. And the labels want to drop the free options more than anything else.
It would be nice if the DOJ was as interested in the shenanigans in the banking/financial world as they are in ebook prices and streaming music.
Let's all just take a moment to reflect on the source for this information being The Verge.
The Verge has little to zero journalistic prowess or integrity, their entire website is a wasteland of slightly reworded press releases, articles clearly written by tech PR companies or "reviews" which spend a lot of time talking about their advertiser's offerings.
I put it forth that The Verge has no sources, is working entirely on gossip and is click baiting with fiction..again.
The article is also seemingly ignorant to the fact that there is a DOJ antitrust representative on site at Apple's HQ.
[quote name="SpamSandwich" url="/t/186103/apple-efforts-to-end-free-streaming-music-on-spotify-youtube-spur-doj-inquiry-report#post_2719330"]Must be a false rumor. I can't see Apple doing this so soon after the Bromwich thing... Unless the Beats guys are acting outside of Apple's control. .[/quote] Actually, I can see Apple attempting to do this. Ending free streaming cuts off ad-supported revenue and more importantly customer data mining. AFAIK, Apple does not mine customer data for money as YuoTube does. Preventing this aids Apple by making the playing field more level. With the DOJ involved, Apple will be found guilty for attempting to increase prices. Google will be found innocent of capturing and reselling customer data because it is offering a free service.