     |
| |
If you believe the rumor mill, Apple is planning to announce ts long-rumored streaming music service as a feature alongside the iOS 7 update during WWDC next week, and now Bloomberg has more details on how it might work. According to the report, the entire thing will be free and ad-supported, Pandora-style. It's expected to include similar features for tracking user's tastes and serving up similar songs, with tight integration to iTunes so they can buy a track if they'd like to keep it. Where a bigger change may be however is on the backend, in how Apple deals with its advertising business. A shift in iAd directed by Eddy Cue and recent hire Todd Teresi is cutting some fees out, giving advertises more flexibility in how they buy placements, and will share radio ad revenue with music labels.
Source: Bloomberg
According to folks in the know who've spoken to Bloomberg and The New York Times, Apple's oft-rumored streaming radio service is set for a late arrival. The reason is because of snails-pace negotiations with the publisher Sony/ATV for music licensing deals. As the Times notes, Sony no longer lets outsiders like ASCAP dole out licenses, leaving itself as chief point of contact for such agreements on its content -- this apparently got Pandora locked into a twenty five-percent increase on royalty payments to Sony. Prior to today's reports, Bloomberg stated that Cupertino was aiming for a Q1 release for this year, and the NYT notes Apple hoped that launch would've happened near the Grammy Awards. If you'll recall, Apple's service is said be direct competition to others like Pandora rather than Spotify, as it would be ad-supported for revenue. As usual, take all of this with a grain of salt, and don't get too thirsty for an Apple-curated streaming music service just yet. More info at the source links.
Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Internet, Apple
Source: New York Times, Bloomberg