“Record labels can take data from streaming services such as Pandora and use it to inform everything from radio airplay to touring schedules, merchandise sales and the real value (beyond the pittance of a royalty) of a particular song with respect to marketing activities,” Rocco Pendola writes for TheStreet. “If Pandora’s unwilling to step up and provide that data (quite possibility because of competitive reasons, re: informing radio airplay, or strategic reasons, re: the battle over royalties), an Apple/Beats combo could be more than ready to seize the opportunity Pandora leaves on the table. Apple, given its dominant position, simply doesn’t have the same strategic-competitive concerns.”
“Building a data business as it relates to music represents a largely untapped area,” Pendola writes. “I know Beats Music has wanted to go there since prior to its public debut. That was going to be a significant part of their business. It’s a game Jimmy Iovine talks. I can’t imagine a situation where he joins Apple’s executive team and drops that mission, because there’s wide-ranging value there. Iovine and his colleagues at Beats know this.”
Much more in the full article here.