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Apple Targeting First Quarter 2013 Launch for Online Music Service

Thursday October 25, 2012 1:46 pm PDT by Eric Slivka
Bloomberg reports that Apple appears to hoping to wrap up deals for an online music service in the next few weeks, targeting a launch for the first quarter of next year.
Apple Inc. and major music labels have intensified negotiations to start an advertising-supported Internet radio service by early next year, according to people with knowledge of the talks.

Talks are centered in part around how to share ad revenue and a deal could be reached by mid-November, with Apple starting a service within the first three months of 2013, said the people, who asked not to be named because discussions are still in progress.
The report says that executives from Vivendi, Universal, Warner, and Sony have all visited Apple's headquarters in recent weeks to learn more about Apple's plans.

Advertising is said to be a central issue in the negotiations, with Apple seeing the service as a way to strengthen its iAd offerings while music labels are seeking a share of that ad revenue and the ability to insert their own advertising into listeners' streams.

Rumors of a potential streaming music service from Apple have been circulating for quite some time, but gained significant steam last month when The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times filed reports outlining Apple's plans to compete with Pandora and other similar services. But unlike those services, which operate under compulsory licenses that restrict users' abilities to skip tracks the frequency with which tracks can be played, Apple is seeking to strike its own licenses with music labels that would permit more flexible usage.

Tag: bloomberg.com
[ 64 comments ]


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TsMkLg068426
83 months ago
So where is iTunes 11?
Rating: 30 Votes
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sampaul
83 months ago
At this moment, my only worry is where is iTunes 11?
Rating: 10 Votes
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TwoBytes
83 months ago
Itunes 11 where?
Rating: 7 Votes
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gorskiegangsta
83 months ago
"Advertising-supported"? Hmm, will see how user-friendly and unobtrusive they'll be able to make those.
Rating: 4 Votes
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Unspeaked
83 months ago
In related news, Pandora's stock tanked so quickly it triggered stock exchange circuit breakers and had to halt trading.

It won't be a pretty day for Pandora shareholders tomorrow...
Rating: 4 Votes
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Steviejobz
83 months ago
They must have really liked that SNL skit
Rating: 3 Votes
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DarkWinter
83 months ago
...

Ad-supported radio? Really? With the network's data limits and charges?

I just want a Spotify-like service, though let's face it, that's some years off (if ever).
Rating: 3 Votes
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KylePowers
83 months ago
I know it'll never happen, but adopting a Spotify business model would be awesome.
Rating: 3 Votes
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Reaktor5
83 months ago

Alright, I laughed at that, lol. That was pretty good! :D


Someone in another thread got this email:

Just got this by email:


iTunes Connect will be undergoing scheduled maintenance on Thursday, October 25 from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. (Pacific).

During this time, iTunes Connect will still be available. However, pricing changes made, or scheduled to go live, between 12 p.m. and 7 p.m. (Pacific) will not be reflected on the App Store and your app will become unavailable for purchase for the duration of the maintenance period. When maintenance is complete, your app will become available. To avoid interruptions to the availability of your apps, we recommend that you do not make any app price changes during this time.

Regards,

The App Store team


Could be related as they roll out iTunes 11 as they wouldn't want anything going wonky on the store side.
Rating: 3 Votes
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Reaktor5
83 months ago

"Advertising-supported"? Hmm, will see how unobtrusive they'll be able to make them.


Spotify makes advertising work quite well. I really don't mind a 30 second spot every so often if I can actively choose what I want to listen to. With Apple's catalog of music it would be even more enticing.
Rating: 3 Votes

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