“Apple is close to striking a streaming deal with two of the major music labels that could end up far sweeter for the music industry than what the labels currently get from Pandora, according to two people familiar with the negotiations,” Paul Sloan reports for CNET. “Much has been made in recent weeks of Apple trying to squeeze the labels on terms, and the deals do have Apple paying the labels a per-stream rate that’s half of what Pandora pays. But CNET has learned that Apple’s planned music service would offer new revenue streams as well.”
“That includes a quick way for consumers to buy a song they hear, potentially boosting download sales from iTunes, as well as a revenue share of new audio ads Apple is planning to add to the free service, according to sources,” Sloan reports. “The product would be tied to iTunes, and available on mobile devices.”
Sloan reports, “Apple could sign deals with both Warner Music and Universal Music Group within the next week, according to the sources… Apple has told the labels it’s determined to get all its deals signed in time for a summer rollout. In addition to the U.S., Apple is hoping to quickly unveil the service in up to a dozen territories, according to sources, including the U.K, France, Germany, Australia, and Japan… The service, according to sources, most closely resembles Pandora because it doesn’t offer on-demand listening. Apple is building some unique features, such as the ability to jump back to the beginning of a song, according to one person briefed on the company’s plans.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
This is the kind of thing that I expect won’tove the share price because people figure such things should be coming, should be happening. Same with a new iPad. It’s business as usual.
Yup.
I love MDN really I do but should we really be referring to an unreleased product from apple as a killer? I mean Apple Maps certainly weren’t a google maps killer…
Persoanlly pandora sucks. I like slacker. Mainly because for $5 or for free if you do one of the free trial things through a partner. You can have your favorite stations stored on your phone which works great in areas where your 3G or LTE service is not good.
I also find slacker has artists that i cant find on pandora and personally pandora never gets it right for me. I dont base my music listening on how the music sounds like it has heavy guitar or whatever. I have artists that i like. SOme are heavy some are not. But slacker seems to get that pandora does not.
I never have understood the thrill in pandora. That being said i hope Apple does something unique and can even get some of the artists that are not on any of the current streaming radios because they refuse to pay the pricing the record companys want. But Apple may be able to make it happen. Time will tell if this is another ping flop or something good.
@ILMM,
I agree about Pandora, I have artist favorites and many times it will mix rock with country with rap cause some core sounds or beats match. ????????
In some areas, it has done a nice job of introducing me to new artists, but it could use work.
JAT
spotify is already killing crappy pandora
Spotify is inextricably tied to FB, so it sucks by association.
Seriously, I tried to sign up with Spotify. They claim you don’t need FB to open an account, but I banged around all over the Spotify site trying to sign up not using FB, and couldn’t
FB ? Am I supposed to know what FB means?
yes, fool. Everyone knows what FB means
Once iRadio debuts, can subscription movie/TV streaming be far behind. NFLX relies on others for serving movies and can be squeezed.