Apple reportedly wants music labels to lower the $10/month rate for Beats Music
Peter Kafka of Re/Code reports that Apple may be actively trying to convince music labels to lower the somewhat-standard US$10/month fee that Beats Music charges for its streaming music service.
Sources say Apple is talking to the big music labels about a new set of rights and features it would like to include in a revamped version of the Beats Music service it bought earlier this year. Among the things Apple wants is a new pricing structure that would allow it to sell the service for less than the $10 level it's at now.
If Apple is somehow able to leverage its reported 885 million iTunes accounts on file to secure a lower monthly rate for Beats, it would certainly represent a huge setback for Spotify, not to mention a huge boon for music lovers. Note that if Apple is able to convince just 1.13% of iOS users to sign up for a music subscription, it will already have more paying subscribers than Spotify has (~10 million).
Just as important, a lower subscription rate might convince a sizable percentage of loyal Spotify fans to jump ship while, at the same time, help entice streaming newbies to give Beats Music a spin.
While it's safe to assume that music labels aren't exactly keen on playing ball by Apple's rules, album sales hit a record low last month and Apple arguably has more leverage now than ever before. It'll certainly be interesting to see how this one plays out once Apple's plans for Beats Music becomes more apparent.
As for what type of new features Apple might want to implement in Beats Music, well that's anybody's guess. One feature I hope Apple considers would be the ability to quickly send a friend -- via email or text -- a clickable link of a song you're listening to. So instead of telling or texting a friend that they should check out a particular song whenever they might get the chance, you could just send them a link to check out at their own convenience.
