Tech giant Apple is putting its best competitive foot forward in the streaming game with Beats Music and its iTunes Radio service. Rumors are swirling that Apple is in talks with Drake, Pharrell Williams, and DJ/Producer Dave Guetta to join Apple as brand personalities.
The New York Post reported on the potentially impending deal, complete with numbers that suggest the deal to sign Drake would come with a $19 million price tag and give the Canadian superstar a guest DJ spot.
Apple also wants to cut in on Spotify, TIDAL, Pandora and other competitors’ business by offering a free three-month trial to new users, but the company is running into some snags.
From the Post:
Apple has been visiting record labels to make deals, ahead of its World Wide Developer Conference in San Francisco next week, but those hard-nosed negotiators from Cupertino want the moon and the stars, sources say.
Turns out that despite government inquiries, Apple loves free just as much as Spotify.
The tech giant wants to offer a three-month free trial period for its $10-a-month subscription service to get customers to sample its new offering. So far so good, but it also wants the labels to give it rights for free during that time.
The laughable request from the most valuable brand on the planet comes at a time when music buyers might opt to ditch the downloads in order to try a new free offering, creating a potential quarterly revenue shortfall for rights owners.
It appears that Apple is working with the labels to publish lyrics along with the streaming music, a deal they’re hoping translates to no cost to them from the publishing companies who own the rights.
The Post also reports that Jay Z is in talks with other companies to merge his TIDAL service with, including one-time sponsor client, Rhapsody.
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Photo: WENN
