“While the entire world was watching Eddy Cue and Drake introduce Apple’s new streaming service at WWDC earlier this week, the tech firm was simultaneously being investigated for possible antitrust-related activities that took place in the organization and arranging of the product it was announcing, Apple Music,” Hugh McIntyre writes for Forbes.
“The attorneys general of both New York state and Connecticut are both looking into the possibility that Apple has been quietly trying to make deals with the three major record labels — Universal, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group — that would hurt its future competitors,” McIntyre writes. “The claim is that Apple negotiated with representatives from each of the labels to begin withdrawing their content from Spotify’s free tier, which could be devastating to the Swedish service if it were to actually happen.”
“The vast majority of Spotify’s users (55 million) are using the free tier, while only 20 million are paying for the service,” McIntyre writes. “Universal has already come forward to say without hesitation that not only did it not speak with Apple about such matters, but that it ‘shares the attorneys general’s commitment to a robust and competitive market for music streaming services.’ Investigations are just beginning, and if both New York and Connecticut have are now looking into antitrust allegations, there might be other potential charges coming, and possibly from other states.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Do the labels and artists really need Apple to tell them that it’s a bad idea to continue giving their work away for free?
This is simply another witch-hunt from politicians in overextended, debt-ridden states that are looking to gobble up ever more revenue by whatever means possible.
SEE ALSO:
Apple Music faces antitrust scrutiny in New York, Connecticut – June 10, 2015
Rival music services claim Apple’s App Store pricing is anticompetitive – May 7, 2015
EU regulators already probing Apple’s music streaming plans in Europe – April 2, 2015