Apple Music Streaming Makes Up for Loss: Seeking Exclusive Copyrights from Singers

Apple , which has been focusing on making and selling mobile phones, has unknowingly become a laggard in the digital music market. In order to catch up with leaders such as Spotify and Pandora in the music streaming market (listening to music online), Apple is considering unconventional means.

According to multiple media reports, Apple is secretly negotiating with more than a dozen singers and bands, hoping to obtain exclusive broadcasting rights for their songs, including American pop queen Swift, who has publicly fallen out with Spotify.

In markets where it lags behind, Apple often uses controversial means to catch up with its competitors. For example, in the digital book market, Apple teamed up with some publishing companies to launch an agency system to compete with Amazon , which resulted in raising book prices and led to Apple being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for conspiracy to manipulate the market.

Apple has reportedly approached more than a dozen singers and bands, including British bands Florence and the Machine, and American singer Swift, hoping to obtain exclusive streaming rights.

It is still unknown to what extent the negotiations will proceed.

If the copyright is provided exclusively to Apple, it means that the singers and bands' income from other streaming service providers will be cut off, and Apple will inevitably need to pay higher music copyright licensing fees.

Due to its unwillingness to give up revenue from iTunes music downloads , Apple has been slow to move in the music streaming market, leading to its current passive situation.

According to multiple media reports, Apple is developing a new music streaming service based on the acquired "Beats Music", which may abandon the Beats brand and integrate iTunes music downloads and personal single download libraries. This will be a major change in Apple's music business in more than a decade.

It is reported that the monthly subscription fee for Apple Music streaming will be US$10, and the monthly subscription for a family will be US$15.

The US music streaming service that provides unlimited online listening has become the industry standard price of $10 per month. Earlier, Apple had negotiated with record companies, hoping to reduce the monthly fee to $8, but the record companies rejected Apple's proposal.

It is reported that, in stark contrast to the iTunes music downloads of the year, due to Apple's marginalized position in the music streaming market, it has no advantage in negotiations with record companies and has failed to successfully negotiate an $8 monthly subscription plan.

According to the Recording Industry Association of America, in 2014, the revenue from digital music downloads in the United States fell by 8.7%, while the revenue from streaming services soared by 29%. There is no doubt that Apple's iTunes and iPod have become a completely sunset business.

Beats Music, the streaming service acquired by Apple, is relatively unknown in the U.S. market, with only 250,000 paying subscribers, while the leader Spotify has as many as 10 million paying subscribers worldwide.

Previously, Apple had imitated Pandora's random play mode and launched an advertising-supported free music streaming service "iTunes Radio", but the response was relatively tepid. If a new on-demand music streaming mode is launched, whether iTunes Radio will be closed is still unclear.

Recently, another streaming service provider Tidal, which features high-quality music, has emerged in the industry, with a monthly subscription fee of up to $20. According to the US Billboard website, Apple executive Jimmy Iovine (co-founder of Beats Electronics) once used lucrative contracts to try to poach singers from Tidal.

At the end of last year, the dispute between American pop queen Swift and Spotify attracted industry attention. Swift announced in November that she would withdraw all her songs from Spotify because she did not receive satisfactory returns.

Spotify responded that currently 70% of the company's revenue is returned to music artists as copyright fees, which is the most it can do.

It is also reported that Universal Music, a global music giant, recently contacted Spotify, hoping to ask it to gradually cancel its free services and increase the proportion of paying users.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.