Apple’s rumored music streaming service has yet to be relaunched, but it looks like even before it has been relaunched, let alone confirmed, it could already be facing some legal issues. Reports from the Financial Times and Reuters (via VentureBeat) have suggested that the EU could be looking to take action against Apple over alleged antitrust violations with its music streaming service.
The concern here is that Apple could abuse their leadership position to unfairly compete against the likes of Spotify who have free listening tiers which are supplemented by advertisements. EU regulators are also said to have requested information from the record labels as well as other streaming services to see if there might be any kind of agreements they have with Apple. If this sounds familiar, it is because Apple faced similar scrutiny with ebooks not too long ago in which they had to pay out a rather huge fine in the process.
That being said it’s odd that Apple would be investigated for music streaming. After all the company isn’t exactly a leader when it comes to music streaming which would probably be Spotify. Also according to reports, Apple hasn’t had much luck either with the record labels as they were said to be unable to negotiate for lower rates, suggesting that Apple’s pull is not what it used to be as far as the music industry is concerned.