Items tagged with Beats Music
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is reportedly investigating Apple's dealings with record labels in advance of the Cupertino company's roll out of a new version of its Beats Music streaming subscription service. What antitrust officials want to know is if Apple is using its position as the top seller of music downloads to encourage labels and artists to pull out of Spotify's free streaming tier, just as Taylor Swift and a few others have done.Rumors of the investigation hit the web earlier this week and have been gaining steam. Citing "people familiar with the matter," Bloomberg is reporting that the FTC's inquiry into Apple's music deals could throw a wrench in the company's plans to revamp...
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There's an interesting competitive dynamic forming between Bose and Apple, two companies that suddenly became rivals when the latter acquired Beats by Dr. Dre. It's been a bit of a contentious relationship so far, with Bose suing Apple for patent infringement and then re-upping its deal with the NFL as its official audio sponsor, effectively banning players from wearing Beats gear in most game-related situations. Now we hear that Bose is getting into the streaming music scene, setting up even more competition with Apple. It also makes things a bit awkward. According to Venture Beat, Apple still sells Bose products in its online and physical stores. There were reports back in October that...
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Apple has been taking its time trying to figure out what to do with its $3 billion acquisition of the Beats brand. Last week, the company announced that it would be launching the first set of headphones, the Solo2 Wireless, since the acquisition. But now, it seems Apple has decided what to do with Beats Music. According to sources that spoke to the Financial Times, Apple will include the Beats app with the latest update for the iOS operating system for both iPhones and iPads. The Financial Times went on to say that users could see the update delivered, with the revamped Beats Music, as soon as March. Subscriptions, which was reported back in October that could cost $5 per month, for the service...
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Short and to the point, Apple says that reports claiming the company plans to shutter its streaming Beats Music service are "not true." Beyond that succinct statement, Apple had nothing else to say on the matter, so we'll have to draw our own conclusions on what's going on, one of those being that the Beats Music service may not be long for this world, at least not in its current form. Let's back up a step. TechCrunch on Monday reported that Apple was discontinuing its Beats Music subscription service, adding that it received its information regarding Apple's plans from five sources, among them "several prominent employees at Apple and Beats." Apple refuted the claim to Recode with the short...
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What's in a name? A lot, evidently. While the streaming music universe hasn't really needed another major player for some time now, Beats Music is going against the grain. Despite having Rdio, Spotify, Pandora, Rhapsody, iTunes, Google Play Music, and plenty of others, Beats Music has decided to enter the streaming game late after acquiring MOG. Now, the company is raising yet another round of funding, on the order of $60 million to $100 million. That's an insanely high figure, no matter how you slice it, and one has to wonder how on Earth it could command that kind of valuation given the intense competition and low margins of the industry. But then, there's this: exclusive rights. Those two...
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We know what you're thinking -- the Internet needs another streaming music service like, well, the Internet needs another streaming music service. It's certainly a crowded field -- Spotify, Pandora, Rhapsody, Google Play All Access Music, Rdio, Slacker, and the list goes on -- but that isn't stopping Beats Music from joining the fray. Beats Music chief Ian Rogers confirmed that the streaming service is indeed real and that it's getting ready to launch next month. Given the brand recognition that already exists, this could end being more popular than people think, especially if celebrities get behind it. "If you’ve spent any time around me in the past six months you’ve surely seen...
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