We have been consistently hearing over the last few months that Apple is working hard to relaunch Beats Music as a new music streaming service, the new service is expected to be unveiled at WWDC 2015 next month. A new report published today claims that record labels are holding out on providing Apple with key licenses which could throw a spanner in the works.
This is a situation that Apple is all too familiar with. Back in 2013 just before the launch of iTunes Radio it was reported that Apple scrambled to sign last-minute deals with labels just so it could launch the service in time. It was Sony Music that held up the process back then.
Billboard reports that Apple is facing problems in getting record labels to sign deals which would grant it licenses to start streaming music through the service. The report goes on to add that getting everything done in time is going to go “down to the wire.” It’s not immediately clear which label is holding up the process.
Recent reports have suggested that Apple has been pushing for aggressive terms with record labels, even urging them to force services like Spotify to end their free streaming tiers so as to clear up a major chunk of users for Apple’s new service.
WWDC 2015 is going to start off on June 8th and that’s when Apple’s keynote address will take place, Apple will certainly hope to get everything settled before then.
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