Apple To Launch Its Own Music Streaming Service At WWDC 2015
It has been rumored that Apple will launch its own music streaming service since the acquisition of Beats by Apple. Now, Doug Morris – The CEO of Sony Music confirmed in an interview at Midem, a music industry conference in Cannes that Apple will announce its new music streaming service during its World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2015.
He said that the launch will represent a “tipping point” for the music industry as users have shifted their interests from downloading music to streaming it online.
According to a recent report, this anonymous streaming service will have two tiers: a $9.99 per month paid tier that will offer on-demand music which is similar to Spotify and a free tier that include lots of curation by popular musicians and DJs. The Record labels which will sign up with this streaming service will provide singles and albums exclusively to Apple which won’t be available from competitors such as Xbox Music and Spotify.
Apple is said to be in the middle of negotiations with popular record labels including Universal Music, Sony and Warner Music. They have not yet signed the deal with Apple but according to industry sources this deal is inevitable.
Morris also said “What does Apple bring to this?”. “Well, they’ve got $178 billion dollars in the bank. And they have 800 million credit cards in iTunes. Spotify has never really advertised because it’s never been profitable. My guess is that Apple will promote this like crazy and I think that will have a halo effect on the streaming business.”
He added “A rising tide will lift all boats,”. “It’s the beginning of an amazing moment for our industry.”