Six months after buying the subscription music service Beats Music, Apple is actively working to launch a completely new paid streaming music service that will compete with Spotify and Rdio. Yet to be named, the new service is entirely Apple-designed, yet leverages Beats’ technologies and music content, a collaboration that has thus far led to personnel challenges and delays. Multiple sources within Apple and the music industry have provided the first in-depth details of Apple’s upcoming streaming service, which we share below.
Rather than merely installing the existing Beats Music app onto iPhones, Apple has decided to deeply integrate Beats into iOS, iTunes, and the Apple TV. The company is currently developing new Beats-infused versions of the Music application for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, as well as an updated iTunes application for computers that deeply integrates Beats functionality. A new Apple TV application is also in the works.
Based heavily upon cloud streaming, Apple’s new service is centered around the user’s music library. A new search feature will be able to locate any song in the iTunes/Beats catalog, and users will be able to stream music from the catalog as well as add songs to their personal libraries. Users will be able to select specific tracks to store on their iOS devices and/or computers, or keep all songs solely in the cloud. Apple will also deeply integrate Beats Music’s Playlists, Activities, and Mixes features into the new service, letting users access a vast array of pre-made, human-curated playlists to fit various activities. Surprisingly, Apple is likely to also update Beats’ social networking features, allowing people to follow other users and artists as they did with the failed Ping social music network.
While Beats technologies will be under the hood, the interface design will be entirely Apple’s, ditching Beats’ black and red theme for a look consistent with iTunes and the iOS Music app. To ease the transition for current Beats Music users, Apple will let users merge Beats Music accounts with their iTunes/Apple ID profiles. Users will also be able to migrate their current Beats libraries to the new service, merging those songs with their iTunes in the Cloud content. Apple plans to retain its iTunes Match, iTunes Radio, and iTunes Store services as-is, even though the new paid streaming service will overlap some functions of earlier iTunes offerings.
Like Beats Music, Apple’s new offering won’t be free, but it will likely be less expensive than the current $9.99/month or $99.99/year pricing. Apple initially discussed a $5 monthly price point with record labels, but music industry sources tell us that the price currently under consideration is $7.99 per month, slightly more affordable than Beats and its rivals. For comparison, Spotify Premium and Rdio Premium subscriptions each cost $9.99 per month. Google Play Music was launched at $7.99/month but is now $9.99.
The new streaming service will also mark the first time Apple offers an Android application developed entirely in-house. Beats Music is already available for Android (shown above) via Google Play, but this application was developed by Beats when it was independent, and some speculated that Apple would kill Android support after the acquisition. Instead, Apple engineers are currently working on an Android app for the new Apple-branded service. Contrasting with former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Tim Cook said in 2013 that Apple has “no religious issue” against developing an Android application. “If we thought it made sense to do that, we would do that,” he said, and in this case, it makes sense given Android’s significant market share, Beats’ existing subscriber base, and the opportunity to give Android users a small taste of Apple’s software.
However, while a Windows Phone version of the original Beats service exists, Apple does not currently plan to develop a new app for Microsoft’s platform due to its modest market share, nor is it planning a new version of the service for web browsers. Beats Music is currently available over the web using a Flash-based application that lacks many of the features from the smartphone apps.
Even with Beats personnel on board to assist with development, Apple’s creation of a new subscription-based streaming music service has not come without internal problems. The lead director of the new streaming project is said to be recently-promoted iTunes Vice President Robert Kondrk, while key Beats Music employees such as former CEO Ian Rogers, co-founder Jimmy Iovine, and Nine Inch Nails leader Trent Reznor are also involved. One source told us that the “Beats integration is not going so well,” and another source said that development of the new service “has been a mess.” Apple executives placed former Beats employees in some critical engineering positions, upsetting long-time Apple engineers. Bobby Gaza, a former Senior VP at Beats Music and Head of Engineering for the new Apple streaming service project left Apple in December. Another source warned that additional significant employee departures from Apple’s services division could be in sight.
Sources also indicate that a lack of clarity from Apple executives over the direction of the project has put the launch timeline in jeopardy. Apple had originally planned to debut the new streaming music service as early as March, but sources now say that a later launch in June at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference is a “real possibility.” Apple has used the WWDC stage before to announce new music products (iTunes Match in 2011 and iTunes Radio in 2013), so this would not be unprecedented. Despite ambiguities over the status of Beats Music as a standalone offering, Apple has not publicly announced any timeline for changes to the service. Tim Cook said in an October 2014 earnings call that the Apple-Beats deal is “off to a great start with some wonderful plans we’ll share with you in the future.”
Image created by Michael Steeber.
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What the head? PSD Disaster!
Here is the original image they photoshopped
http://tattletailzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dr-dre-jimmy-ivine.jpg
Personally I find the random tacky Photoshops on 9to5 the worst aspect of the site. Great scoop with lots of details, but the very first thing you see is some silly, fake photo. Why not just an image of Iovine and Cue on stage at the Code Conference?
Lol hilarious Photoshop.
Apple will deeply integrate Beats into the OS the way Microsoft deeply integrated Explorer into Windows. Anti-trust ensues. Apple slammed for monopolistic practices as they ***k with other streaming providers’ software in the same way the MFI does with hardware vendors. The king of the mountain becomes the villain by their own hand. Rinse. Repeat.
It’s a music app, IE was a different type of app. If I were Apple, I would do a Windows version for the simple fact that Windows phones are being used with Windows desktops/laptops and they have the Windows desktop/laptop version. You might as well give them the ability to use it on Windows Phones.
For there to be grounds for a anti-trust action, there has to be both a monopoly and a use of that monopoly to hinder competitors. Apple has no monopoly in the music streaming business at all, right now, so there is no monopoly to leverage by integration. Should Apple reach monopoly status, then perhaps deep integration could become an issue, though even then, I’m not sure it would hold up because the integration happened before reaching anything close to a monopoly. If iOS were a monopoly, there’d be a better chance at making that argument in court (maybe), but that’s not the case either.
You do realize this is a totally idiotic comparison, right? First off all, comparing iTunes (a CROSS-platform, FREE music player/organizer) to the most monopolistic piece of garbage ever concocted. Secondly, that you actually (apparently) believe MSFT when they said that IE was deeply integrated. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just because the court bought it, even though there was plenty of evidence shown to the contrary, doesn’t mean you should. Besides which, the court found MSFT guilty (just did not punish them in any way, whatsoever).
Nah. The stock Music app is considered part of the iOS. I’d say “deeply integrated” just means the Beats Music app will either replace, morph into, or be mashed-up with the stock Music app and thus become “deeply integrated” into iOS.
iTunes on the desktops is a separate app that’s optional even for Mac users (you *had* to keep IE even if you never used it). What is currently Beats Music won’t be “deeply integrated” into the Mac OS, just into iTunes. If someone downloads iTunes, presumably it’s because they want what it has to offer.
Just a few points:
1. The IE thing is still in windows, and has had little effect. Chrome dominates browser.
2. That’s the past… Apple is tweaking the existing apps and music features.
It’s their phone and their OS, how is that monopolistic? The iPhone has been out for for almost a decade. If app developers can’t do what Apple can on the music side, then good riddance to them.
I’m sick of the whiners complaining about monopolies when they can’t put a decent app or eco system together. Do better to go under. Law of survival.
Has Eddy Cue been photoshopped in afterwards there? Are we sure that’s his real head?
Anyway, as a UK resident, I haven’t even seen iTunes radio yet , but might be swayed if Beats radio a-la Apple makes it over here.
Yes. Maybe. And I bet.
Yeah, he’s been photoshopped in. Here’s the original: http://tattletailzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dr-dre-jimmy-ivine.jpg
It definitely is photoshopped.
Cue looks like he didn’t get any sleep. Look at the bags under his eyes and he looks like he’s pissed that someone woke him up.
Cue Ball head. What’s that? 10% larger than it should be?
Looks like the George Lopez big headed baby gag.
This is the real guy in this picture:
http://i2.wp.com/9to5mac.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2014/05/beats-nyc-press-conference-2012-l1.jpg%3Fresize%3D500%252C500
Don’t know who he is.
Shame on you, 9to5!!! ;)
Luke Wood, Beats president before acquisition. Image is meant in slight humor, not to deceive.
The head has been photoshopped on but it’s actually to scale vs other heads in pic. Body is just a bit small.
So Apples big plan is take Beats and stick it into iTunes and the iOS music app. Shocking I tell you, shocking!
What did you think they were going to do with it? Cure cancer?
No I expected them (along with everyone else) to do exactly what this article says. Which is what writing it as big breaking news was silly. Hardly breaking news.
Or maybe you lived under a rock since the purchase and figured no way theyd actually build Beats into the Music App…..wow Apple so amazing
If Apple’s going to integrate Beats with iTunes In The Cloud/Match, then they need to SERIOUSLY strengthen Match’s infuriatingly bad matching algorithm… and allow uses to fix mismatches. Right now, my Beatles collection is a mess thanks to Match confusing mono versions (which they don’t sell) with stereo versions (which they do sell.) There are hundreds more examples like this in my collection.
As someone who has a lot of music stored in both iTunes Match and Amazon Cloud (or whatever their official name for the service is) I think one key issue here is licensing. I would be willing to bet that while the match algorithm could be better it is also limited by what Apple is allowed to match as stated in their contracts.
It doesn’t make it right but it does make some sense. At least it does to me.
I didn’t realize that this was a problem. I think I have a couple thousand songs in match and no issues that I’m aware of.
I’m very interested to see what they come up with, though I think they ought to set their priorities straight and ‘fix’ iTunes as it has quite a few annoyances- for me. Not emptying the search field when switching from, say, apps to music, the info panel, the cover art options, keyboard shortcuts et cetera make using iTunes not a good experience anymore – to me.
disclaimer: the iTunes 12.1.0.50 update fixed a lot of these issues.
Interesting. Couple of big questions this raises:
1) In house Android development — is that limited to the streaming service or are they bringing all iTunes over? I think it would include the ability to buy songs too, use Match and Radio… not sure if it would extend to Movies, TV and Books…
2) Is there any incentive to buy a song/album when using this service? (beyond setting a song as background music for home movies/slideshows or remix the song file) Maybe new albums are held back? I really hope they partner with artists to allow you to subscribe/support musicians with additional payments that may give you access to exclusive content–songs, videos, live performances or streams.
If earlier reports are to be believed the reason Apple is able to negotiate lower royalty payments which allows them to offer the service at a lower price while hitting earning targets is they expect customers of this service to buy more tracks once they’ve been able to listen to the whole thing as much as they want.
I know that was the argument for iTunes Radio… But it seems weird if that’s the reason for streaming. Unless it’s just back-catalog (which I don’t think it will be), you’re limited the times you can stream (not ideal) or there’s certain exclusive content you can buy for artists you really love (what I’m hoping for)
Potentially big moves. I had some ideas about what would come of them buying Beats and it looks like most of it will play out as expected. Most interesting is that buying into the service through an Android device would likely bring over new customers and prime them for and iOS experience in the future. It will interesting to watch this play out.
FYI, small typo, says “currently” twice:
“Apple initially discussed a $5 monthly price point with record labels, but music industry sources tell us that the price is CURRENTLY CURRENTLY under consideration is $7.99 per month”
and maybe mean to remove the “is” before the first currently?
Wow! So Jose Mourinho has signed Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre to Chelsea?
Most wouldn’t get that which is a shame because the resemblance is uncanny lol!
I was a little confused. Why Mourinho? Because Iovine was a top transfer target or 2014 for Chel$ki?
Hopefully it won’t be a US only service …
” Apple executives placed former Beats employees in some critical engineering positions, upsetting long-time Apple engineers. Another source warned that significant employee departures from Apple’s services division could be in sight.”
That sounds like disaster.
I want a service which offers unlimited streaming of music, but also movies and tv shows.
I completely agree, I don’t know why we can’t have a service for new releases in movies. I’m not talking about movies completely skipping the theaters but once it’s about to become available to buy why it can’t go straight to a streaming service like Beats and Spotify do with new music.
I can’t image the logistics of setting up a service like that but I feel like it should exist in the movies and tv shows realm.
Again, I have a limited data plan. This is useless to me.
Beats allows you to download music to your device , say when you are on WiFi, for playback later when on 3g/4g or with no access at all.
“…a completely new paid streaming music service that will compete with Spotify and Rdio.”
I guess that matters to Spotify or Rdio, but I’m having a hard time understanding why people who worry about Apple being able to do mega-revolutionary follow-ons to the iPhone, would think Apple would spend executive talent and brand name going after the tiniest of competitors.
Almost certainly, “competing” with those two is nowhere significant enough to be interesting. Must be something much bigger at stake, possibly a revitalization of music industry from its current torpor.
You may definitely be right about the stakes being bigger but this article doesn’t inspire confidence in Apple’s music efforts. Makes it seem like it’s one step away from disaster.
Have you seen iTunes music sales lately? Music streaming services is not an insignificant competitor, they’ve been killing downloads for a long time now.
Sure, SOMETHING has caused stagnation/decline. Could be that post-iPod, everybody gets all they want (so very slow, average economic growth) plus we’re spending our time on games, other apps (which ARE growing, even faster).
But reports have both co’s (likely, Google & others, too) quite unprofitable, with margins not covering high fixed costs. Plus, Apple can’t expect to get 100% versus incumbents. Pretty sure they didn’t spend $3+ billion for Beats for the headphones, and also not to fight it out for < $1 billion market in which nobody makes money.
I'm just saying there has to be more than meets the eye here. No idea what it is, nor whether it'll actually be more than a fiasco. But Apple Rdio® ain't it.
Just off the cuff, as far as I know Beats generates about 1 billion annually. Acquiring Beats, if only for the headphones, will pay for itself in no time (with billions to follow every year). So, even if Apple DID acquire Beats just for the headphone business, it would be terrifically profitable and thus a smart move.
That there’s so much more involved just sweetens the deal for users and consumers of Apple products. I’m pretty enthusiastic about what’s going to happen with the Beats integration. I take the “problems” and “conflicts” contained in these stories somewhat with a grain of salt and a s something to add a little drama/flavour to what would otherwise be a by-the-numbers update.
I appreciate these kinds of articles as they tend to offer more insight than what we find on a whole lot of other Apple watching sites, which all tend to spew the same news clips with little to no history, context, or investigation. And then, of course, the are those that make a living off waving their Apple love-flag with nothing but vapid speculation.
Internal development issues, lack of leadership and direction…. That is the kind of leadership late Steve Jobs would have been needed….
I don’t get the idea of keeping iTunes Match while integrating Beats services… and iTunes Radio still available in two countries while being launched in 2013…
Music plans and services @ Apple are not going really well it seems… .
http://tattletailzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dr-dre-jimmy-ivine.jpg
I don’t see anything but bad news here. iTunes radio as well as all the other streaming services are doing quite badly, and actual music sales are down and currently believed by most to be “threatening the very existence of the music business.”
Doubling down on streaming is going to help who, how now?
And talk about “culture clash”!?! Holy sh*t, everything I’ve heard makes it wound like open war at Apple.
Apple the Great WHITE Shark may have swallowed that little BROWN sea lion whole, but he isn’t being digested very well. The sickness won’t be able to kill the shark, but it’s only a matter of time before he tries to spit out that sea lion again IMO.
Still think this will be the biggest write-down in the history of the company. All the work they’re doing is fine and dandy, but they paid 3 BILLION for tech that’s barely worth a few million.
Agreed. With a $170 Billion in cash, I still don’t know why Apple just didn’t buy Spotify and be done with it. Bigger user base. But then, I think Cook needs Iovine to negotiate music contracts because Cook is no Jobs.
Spotify and Rdio weren’t for sale for one. More importantly, Jobs and Iovine went way back with Johnny I. having played a major role in the initial roll-out of iTunes. And the seeds for the Apple/Beats deal were sowed well before the deal was final. Apple and Beats were in discussion about a music service for a while and the only reason we got iTunes Radio without a real on-demand streaming service was because Beats wasn’t ready.
I’m still surprised at how many people were surprised by the deal.
I really hope that whatever they do it actually works well. As mentioned in at least one other comment there are some issues with the current options Apple provides. I’ve had a lot of problems with the music app when combined with iTunes Match that do not appear to have been addressed at all in any of the updates to iOS 8. If they have a new service coming out I can understand not wanting to fix bugs since a replacement is coming out. At the same time though I’m worried about the reports of discord in the development teams.
The bottom line is the ease of use and reliability of my iPod got me on the Apple bandwagon and it may lead to me jumping off if not dealt with in the next year or so.
Makes me think that the acquisition was definitely about the C-level hires, and not the product itself.
The Beats Music app actually feels more like an iOS 8 app than the stock Music app in iOS. I hope they don’t scrap too much of it. Maybe just turn the black background white and add track timings (and of course iTunes purchasing integration).
I’m looking forward to this. My iTunes library goes back to the beginning, so full integration with a streaming service would be excellent for me. One app and free T-Mobile streaming of all of it.
They’re gonna let you merge Beats and Apple Accounts…
But they still won’t let you merge two Apple accounts.
lol
they killed MOG for this shit
I hope they do not do away with the ATT Family Plan for Beats. $15 a month for up to 5 family members is the best deal around in the streaming world.
I was just discussing this with my wife.Even though 4 of 5 slots are being used, it’s a tremendous value for what Beats Music does. It’s awesome!
Want nothing to do with anything from Dre or Iovine. Pure poison I do not want on any device I own.
Rap is not music.
I wouldn’t bet on that. This is the same company that killed of Lala.com without offering any alternative.
I’m a bit dumbstruck — as I have been at several steps along the strange saga of Beats Music.
I’ve been on 7 different subscription music services starting around 2005. I was subscribed (and happy) at MOG when Beats bought them and gracelessly cannibalized the generally well-liked service, which had made a name for itself by serving up all 320 kbps files when others were putting out mid-fi 160 kbps.
I availed myself of 2 separate ‘extended’ trials of Beats as a MOG subscriber — and I can forthrightly say that it was, bar none, the worst — by a stretch — of the 6 services I’ve used. Horrible, horrible UI — not even a play queue — and the tech on both Windows desktop and Android app seemed clumsy and clunky at best. My first trial, right after they dropped the long-in-prep service was a tech nightmare. The second time around a couple months later, things were sort of glued together but using the service was an awful experience.
Which was why I was flabbergasted to see Apple buy them. And NOW… Apple is firing *their* tech staff to make way for Beats’ tech staff? What could that possibly say about the folks leaving? Or is it what it says about the folks calling the shots?
At any rate, once again, I’m glued to my screen to see what will happen next.
Quick and minor correction: Google Play Music is their free music locker service; GPM All Access is the subscription streaming add-in service. It’s nice because it allows one to integrate his own uploads with GPMAA’s.
And, for the record, the services I’ve subscribed to were MusicMatch On Demand, Yahoo Music Unlimited, Rhapsody, MOG, Beats Music (2 extended trials), Spotify (3 months) and finally GPM All Access.*
Interestingly, of those, Apple/Beats honcho Ian Rogers was the boss at three (3) of them when they closed down: MMOD, YMU, and MOG. I’m not sure how to mark *this* one on Mr Rogers’ scorecard.
* Spot’s got some good features their queue system is awkward at best (at least on the desktop where I do almost all my listening). All Access is my fave on the desktop by a stretch — but their Android app has had issues on both my beloved but older Android phone — and, quite annoyingly, also on my Google Nexus 7 tablet.
Terrible photoshopped picture! Don’t do that if you want to stay believable.
But I still don’t see the the advantage of music streaming!
First I do need high speed internet access to listen to music or watching movies. But there where I do listen music I don’t have internet or the 4G speed sucks! I want my have my music I payed for not renting it!
Second I don’t understand how people can subscribe to any of these pay/month or pay/year models.
Adobe, Microsoft etc all are blinding people with subscriptions and people are paying for something they don’t have afterwards. It’s one of the reason I stopped using MS Office.
It’s like renting a house you pay years and years and don’t own something.
OTOH I don’t understand Facebook either. But it seems to be driven by the same people: just tell everybody in the world irrelevant informations. So these same people buy streaming music to listen to it not own it.
Either I like a song or don’t like. If I like it I buy it if not I don’t need it. I can still listen to it 20 years later. Most streaming services will have the songs/movies for some months perhaps years.
Superficial behavior. But that’s the prize to pay for our internet generation.
Third with Tim Cook at the helm Apple is going to be an even bigger money making machine. But it looks like there’s an exodus of all the great people there. Every month more brilliant people leave. I think they are on MS fate just way faster but delivering services for any device will help MS, Apple will really need to reinvent great products, which I haven’t seen: Apple TV works but others are better. The 12″ Macbook won’t have enough connectors and won’t be fast enough. If the Mac will go ARM, they will save my electricity bill but there won’t be much apps. (And no I don’t want iOS on my Mac: I want to work not play). iPod is dead. The only product that Apple has is the iPhone. But competitors won’t sleep! Apple Watch? Who really needs a smart watch? Again people who think irrelevant informations are important.
This as an integrated feature set is going to be amazing. Cannot wait…
Good article, great overview.
Reblogged this on sebastianrasch and commented:
Great article about Apple’s upcoming music streaming service
“For the first time, since Apple introduced the iTunes store over a decade ago, digital download sales of music were down. The challenge for Apple? How to promote Beats Music without destroying iTunes.
Their solution may be in building a music streaming service rooted in discovery that transitions the listener to iTunes and creates an opportunity to sell more music to those who prefer to own it, not borrow it. And don’t underestimate Mr. Iovine’s value in putting together exclusive release deals with top artists. He’s not just connected, he has iTunes as part of the deal and in today’s marketplace, even the biggest artists are looking for ways to sell more music.
Mr. Iovine understands that most people who listen to music don’t want to search for it. They want it simple and they want a human connection with the music they hear. As a music guy, he knows that It takes people who love music, and know music, to create great playlists, not the computer generated playlists that Pandora, Spotify and others use.
“You need curation, not give me your credit card here’s 20 million songs. Of course you have to have the right curated playlists. Without it you don’t have the emotion.”
Since those revelations back in May, Apple has been actively evaluating their options and making changes. Quietly eliminating Apps from their App Store that enabled users to download music, movies and e-books from sites like YouTube and even ending their relationship with Google’s YouTube. All moves designed to support the legitimate sale of recorded music.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-buckley-jr/can-apple-save-the-music-_b_5769630.html
We hear a lot about how Apple is developing a streaming solution that will be formidable and pose a challenge to Spotify’s dominance of music’s big data. An article like this is informative and serves as a good reality check versus how many hype based uninformed articles are published about Apple and Beats.
It was refreshing to gain further insight into Apple’s struggle to integrate and leverage Beats.
Just about everything that is written about Apple and Beats fails to address the potential of Apple incorporating the Beats audio option into the iPhone chassis. iPhone’s are a poor platform for direct sound quality. They are a slight step above PC speakers on a PC.
I don’t envy the Apple and Beats combined software engineering teams meshing the Mog(Beats) and iTunes architectures. As the author points out it is a non-trivial task.
I do think iTunes on Android will be a viable market for Apple and will offer competition to Google Play.
Spotify is in the midst of securing additional funding 500 million. I am expecting Spotify to offer high resolution audio streaming and video high def, as they are losing business to TIDAL only offering 320kbs streaming. Spotify needs to make technology infrastructure improvements.
Spotify has to increase the bandwidth clarity of their discovery solution. They have been handed the SONY customer base. SONY Playstation Music is estimated to be a 64 million user base. This doubles the amount of Spotify listeners from 60 million to 124 million listeners.
If Apple doesn’t deliver iTunes Streaming until July-September, Spotify has a 9 month windows to secure more listeners.
screw this. bad karma for fxxkng up mog and beats is a loser. goes around comes around.
Too late to the party but funny piece.
Old guy wearing a cap backwards. Product rendered invalid.
That last thing I want is a corporate overlord like Apple steering me to their music service of choice. I’ve already had it with the hardware issues I’ve had with the last two iPhones I’ve owned, and this just makes my decision to switch to Android that much easier. I am a happy Spotify premium user who has no use for crappy iTunes or Beats.
An Android app .. why? They should just kill it. How many Android users are ever paying a monthly fee for any service ? They pirate everything. They don’t buy any apps, games, music, ebooks. It’s a waste of resources with no real revenue
Hey all, we launched ENGAGE music last month and trying to grow our artist and music base. Its a music sharing platform with a forever free concept.. No premium accounts, no advertising. Just free, unlimited music hosting and track minutes.
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