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Apple is under review by American regulators for possible anti-trust violations for how it has been making deal with record labels for the new version of its Beats Music streaming service.
The company acquired Beats from Jimmy Iovine last year for $3 billion.
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The Federal Trade Commission is concerned that Apple is using its dominance in the field of music downloading to try and crush competitors such as Spotify. iTunes had long been a major source for downloading of music and just about everything else before the company acquired beats. But put the two together and you get one hell of an Internet behemoth.
The problem revolves around how Apple has been looking to make exclusive deals with recording artists that would leave it the only place where people can get those artists’ music.
But this all may be moot, as Billboard is reporting that Apple has failed to close major music deals just a few weeks ahead of Beats’ re-launch. The publication said that this may cause a delay in the company’s plans for Beats.
Billboard wrote, “Apple is overhauling and probably rebranding the Beats Music subscription service it acquired in its $3 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics. It is expected to carry the standard $9.99-per-month price tag and the same emphasis on human curation preferred by Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre.
“Beats Music has been available only in the United States since its January 2014 launch. With the global presence of the iTunes Music Store and Apple phones and tablets, Apple will have the ability to significantly expand the subscription service’s footprint.”
