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iTunes Radio to feature dedicated Twitter #music station
As was mentioned in the WWDC 2013 keynote, the forthcoming iTunes Radio will feature a dedicated Twitter #music station. The Twitter #music station will allow users to listen to trending songs that are shared on Twitter with an option to buy the songs via the iTunes Music Store. But as The Verge points out, iOS already has a dedicated Twitter #music app that is struggling to gain popularity. The agreement between Apple and Twitter to include a dedicated Twitter #music station obviously works out well for both companies. Apple gets access to social feeds from one of the most popular social networks ever, including increased revenue streams from users who buy tracks from the Twitter #music stream. But Twitter may be the biggest beneficiary in the agreement as inclusion of a dedicated Twitter #music station gives the company's fledgling music service an increased awareness to hundreds of millions of users.
Daily Update for June 7, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS I
AllThingsD: All three music labels on board for Apple
In the music industry, there are three major labels: Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music. According to Peter Kafka at All Things D, Apple has now signed agreements with all three labels, opening the way to a possible Apple announcement of the iRadio streaming service during the WWDC 2013 Keynote on Monday. "iRadio" may not be the actual name of the service, but has caught on as speculation has grown about Apple's music streaming plans. Apple still has to sign up Sony/ATV, the music publishing part of Sony, but is apparently quite close in negotiations. Kafka expects that Apple won't actually launch iRadio on Monday, but will tell developers -- and the rest of us -- about the service. The service is expected to be free and supported by audio iAds, providing more control over what songs you wish to listen to than standard Web radio stations. If it's announced on Monday, iRadio -- or whatever it's going to be called -- will be a win-win for Apple fans and the major record labels.
Daily Update for June 6, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Reuters: Apple to show off iRadio streaming service next week
Reuters is reporting that among the announcements we'll see at next week's WWDC keynote, Apple will introduce a new music-streaming service called iRadio. The service will be free and ad-supported, Reuters says those in the know claimed, and will feature ads from the iAds team. The service is designed to dive into the already crowded market of music-streaming services, which includes Pandora, Rdio, Spotify, Slacker Radio and a number of other sizable options. I will buy this rumor, but I don't know if Apple's plan is simply to just introduce "another" music streaming service. The company has been working hard with iCloud and iTunes Match to get you access to your music from any of your devices, and my guess is that any "iRadio" reveal would be along those lines, aimed at providing you direct access to any tunes you want to listen to from anywhere. The iAds division was of course put together for running ads on apps, but it makes sense that Apple would want an in-house solution for them to sell, so it sounds like this could work. As with all of these rumors, we won't know what's true until Apple actually takes the stage next week. But at least we don't have too much longer to wait.
Bloomberg details Apple's rumored radio service, associated iAd revamp
If you believe the rumor mill, Apple is planning to announce its 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.
Daily Update for June 3, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Apple signing deals, may introduce internet radio service as soon as next week
According to an article in yesterday's New York Times, Apple is trying hard to ink licensing deals with music companies so it can introduce a streaming internet radio service as soon as next Monday -- the day of the WWDC 2013 keynote. Apparently Apple hasn't made much progress since rumors about the service first surfaced last summer, as record labels and music publishers aren't happy with the deals they currently have with Pandora and want higher royalty rates and guaranteed minimum payments as well. The Times notes anonymous sources who say that Apple has signed a deal with Universal Music Group for recorded music rights, but not for music publishing. Over this past weekend, Apple apparently also signed a deal with Warner Music Group for both recorded music and publishing rights. The company is still negotiating with Sony Music Entertainment and the Sony/ATV publishing company, although representatives from all of the music companies and Apple refused comment on the deals. When it finally arrives, Apple's internet radio service is expected to be free, but supported by advertising. Music companies love the fact that unlike Pandora, Apple can sell music as well directly through the iTunes store -- a potential boon for listeners who can choose to buy a song that they hear and like.
Streaming radio may be the next frontier for Apple's music efforts
In a rather interesting article last week detailing music service Pandora's ongoing struggle with record labels' streaming fees, The Verge says that "iRadio," Apple's rumored Pandora competitor, is being primed for a launch this Summer. "Much has been written about Apple's plan to launch a Pandora-esque service this year. Now multiple music industry insiders have told The Verge that significant progress has been made in the talks with two of the top labels: Universal and Warner. One of the sources said 'iRadio is coming. There's no doubt about it anymore.' Apple is pushing hard for a summertime launch." Given the seemingly fickle nature of record labels and Apple's well-known intransigence when it comes to negotiations, our advice is to take this report with a grain of salt. Still, rumors of Apple's interest in launching its own streaming music service have persisted for quite some time. The likeliest sticking points in Apple's efforts to launch an iRadio service are the royalty payments to music labels. Most recently, the New York Post claimed that Apple was hoping to pay record labels about US$0.06 per 100 songs streamed. To put that into context, Pandora currently pays record labels 12 cents per 100 songs streamed. Meanwhile, Spotify (which allows consumers to select individual songs for playing / mobile sync, in addition to its streaming programming) pays record labels 36 cents per every 100 songs streamed. As to why Apple wants to get into the music streaming business: it's always helpful to follow the money. To that end, approximately 50 percent of Apple's iTunes revenue originates from purchases made on mobile devices. And when you also consider that both Pandora and Spotify are extremely popular iOS applications, it's clear that there's already a huge market for music streaming. It only makes sense that Apple would want a piece of that pie. With a streaming radio service under the iTunes umbrella, Apple could generate revenue from advertising and music subscriptions -- all the while funneling customers who want to buy songs from the iRadio service to the iTunes Music Store. While record labels might be wary of ceding any ground to Apple, they shouldn't let old grudges get in the way of acquiring new revenue streams. Streaming radio is a great idea, as long as there's an ecosystem of mobile devices to listen in. While there have been upwards of 500 million iOS devices sold, Apple says nearly 300 million (60 percent) of those devices have shipped with or have been updated to iOS 6 (as of January 2013). The takeaway is that iOS users, more so than their Android counterparts, are much more likely to upgrade to the most current available mobile OS version. [In fairness, with Android updates bottlenecked through the mobile carriers, a much smaller proportion of the Android installed base is eligible to run the latest version. –Ed.] Consequently, if Apple updates iOS such that an iRadio service is embedded into the Music app -- or perhaps as a featured standalone app, in the same fashion that the Podcasts app has been broken out from Music -- it may very well shake up the digital musical landscape yet again.
Record labels laugh at Apple's proposed royalty rate for streaming service
The New York Post has an exclusive today about Apple's attempts to get rights from record labels for a proposed music streaming service, which are apparently falling on deaf ears because its offer is "seen as way too cheap." A high-level executive at one label told the Post that "Apple wants a rate that is lower than Pandora's," and the numbers don't lie. Pandora currently pays a royalty of US$0.12 per 100 songs streamed; Apple's initial offer was about 6 cents per 100 songs streamed. Spotify currently pays the highest royalty rates at about 35 cents per 100 songs streamed, and the Post notes that music label insiders think that Apple should pay at least 21 cents per 100 songs. That's the rate set by the Copyright Royalty Board for companies that don't own broadcast operations. The Apple streaming service, which is rumored to be named iRadio, is expected to be ad-supported and was widely expected to be available at the launch of the iPhone 5 last fall. A source for the Post said, "Everyone's had their initial meetings and everyone is preparing counters." Hopefully Apple will be able to iron out the details before the next iPhone is ready to roll. [via MacRumors]
Reports: Apple's internet radio service delayed by slow-going music licensing negotiations
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.
ROKR E2 dumping iTunes for an iRadio service?
MacRumors picked up on a New York Times report that the forthcoming ROKR E2 will be dumping iTunes in favor of a new subscription-based iRadio service, featuring over 400 channels of commercial-free radio. So basically: instead of a phone that can freely play all of your music, you can pay a reported $7/month for what is basically XM/Sirius in your phone. For those of you still waiting for an iTunes-based ROKR successor, the recently-announced RAZR v3i sounds like it won't dissappoint. In my opinion though, following up the less-than-stellar ROKR with a new version that doesn't even support playing my music is two steps in the wrong direction.But what do you guys think of this? Do you want a ROKR phone with a radio-on-steriods in it, or are you already yelling "I want my iTunes library!"
