Apple in Talks With Florence and the Machine, Taylor Swift About Exclusive Beats Content

Apple couldn't establish lower pricing for its upcoming music service to distinguish it from competing services, so the company is hoping to draw in subscribers by offering exclusive content. Apple has asked Florence and the Machine and a dozen other artists for exclusive deals to promote the upcoming music service, reports Bloomberg.

Apple is said to be in talks with Florence and the Machine about limited streaming rights to a track for the band's upcoming album in June, and Apple execs have also approached Taylor Swift and others in the hopes of establishing a deal. An exclusive deal with Taylor Swift could be a big win for Apple as she's opted to pull her music from some streaming services like Spotify. Such exclusives could bring in music-loving subscribers that might otherwise not pay for a music subscription.

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The strategy is similar to a tactic employed by Jay-Z's recently relaunched music service Tidal, which also hopes to attract subscribers through content that can't be obtained elsewhere. At launch, Tidal released a new song from Beyonce, following it up with an exclusive song from Rihanna.

Exclusives could work to help Apple garner subscribers, but the company's most promising tool for gaining subscribers is its huge existing customer base. Millions of people own iPhones and iPads, and Apple can create a streaming music app that's heavily integrated within iTunes and installed on Apple devices automatically.

As we've heard in previous rumors, Apple is working to completely revamp Beats Music to turn it into an all new subscription music service. It may gain a new name, says Bloomberg, and it will cost $9.99 per month for individuals, with a family plan available for $14.99.

Apple may be planning to unveil its new streaming music service at its upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

Top Rated Comments

Joe HS Avatar
107 months ago
Can we just move on, as a society, from exclusive content?
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tasset Avatar
107 months ago
I can live with Apple's often compromises in hardware to push technology forward. But I really have to shake my head in disappointment at their decisions to throw money at circus monkeys like U2, Iovene/Dre, this rumor du jour, yesterday's notion of caving to ABC's bloated channel packages. I always hope they lean towards what the consumer wants and let the media companies/artists dangle in the wind until they come around. However we end up getting more of the same while Jony is off rubbing knobs with Karl Lagerfeld.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iBreatheApple Avatar
107 months ago
Sorry but I'm just not willing to rent content, especially considering my data plan's limitations.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ArtOfWarfare Avatar
107 months ago
An exclusive deal with Taylor Swift could be a big win for Apple as she's opted to pull her music from some streaming services like Spotify. Such exclusives could bring in music-loving subscribers that might otherwise not pay for a music subscription.
Definitely not. Let me draw you a quick, crude, ascii venn diagram:

(people who love music) (people who listen to Taylor Swift)

Notice the utter lack of overlap.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
misterpip Avatar
107 months ago
This is ass!
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
patrickcwelsh Avatar
107 months ago
I thought iTunes was supposed to pull people away from illegal downloading with a simple one-time purchase so you can own the song. Now to hear certain exclusive songs you have to pay monthly to rent it. I can't afford to have multiple subscriptions to multiple steaming music services, so I guess I'll be missing out on new content somewhere. Makes me miss Limewire.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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