Now in an updated article from the Financial Times (paywall), it claims that Apple could be considering other options, and one of those options could be acquiring iHeartRadio which is a subsidiary of iHeartMedia. This is apparently a good move, at least according to a major music label executive who believes it could lead users to Apple Music.
According to the exec, “Terrestrial radio is not the force it once was, but there are millions of people listening to the radio. These radio listeners will inevitably migrate to online services, and they could be herded towards Apple.” So far Apple Music seems to be doing well and growing rather quickly and is said to have 56 million subscribers at this point in time, although for the most part it is still quite behind Spotify.
It is possible that these investments/acquisitions could help give Apple the added resources to help them overtake Spotify, which is still very much the leader and king of music streaming at the moment. Nothing has been officially announced yet so it’s probably best to take this with a grain of salt for now.