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Though we’ve yet to hear an official announcement from Apple on whether the company plans to launch a Pandora-esque music streaming service as early as next week, the company’s actions offer a few tantalizing clues.
The New York Times reported yesterday that Apple’s streaming service, dubbed iRadio by tech writers, will be free (yay!) and ad-supported (le sigh). Apple’s been hard at work securing the necessary rights from music labels. Thus far Warner Music Group struck a deal encompassing recorded music rights and music publishing rights, while Universal Music Group’s deal is only for recorded music rights. Apple and Sony are still at the table.
Bloomberg reported that Apple is also changing its advertising structure to be more amenable to advertisers that want to target consumers as they listen to tunes. Industry sources report that Apple will be aiming to strike deals with well-known consumer brands. This change broadens the scope of iAd, the Apple advertising service that puts the banner ad in your free version of Angry Birds.
Apple would then presumably share revenue generated from within the radio service with the record companies with whom it had licensing agreements. Apple’s got loads of data on what kind of media a particular user likes, which may help attract some larger clients to the radio advertising space.
The music service may be released at Apple’s upcoming WWDC, and will likely go live for consumers with the release of iOS 7. The service will also offer tight iTunes integration, which would make it very easy for a user who streams a particular song through iRadio to take the plunge and buy their own digital copy through iTunes.
This is interesting and all, but I’m not going to drop my Spotify subscription for a service that includes ads, even if it is free. What about you all? Does the idea of iRadio excite you or is it already so 2005?
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Apple’s iRadio Service May Launch This Summer
