Apple appears to be in the process of making one of the most drastic changes to its music divisions in years. Rumors and theories have been floated out there about the $3 billion acquisition of Beats Music and the industry has a pretty good idea of what the Silicon Valley giant plans to do, but a new report by the New York Times explains in more detail what the acquisition is shaping its music strategy. According to the report, Apple is attempting to rebrand and totally overhaul is own streaming platforms to compete with other services like Spotify.
In a shift in philosophy, Apple has appointed a music man, Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, to head up the redesigning of their music app to include music streaming. This new service will have one noticeable difference from its rivals — the price. It will be priced at $8 a month, as opposed to the $10 a month that is typically charged for premium accounts on other services. This difference may seem small, but shows that Apple is no longer in the drivers seat and can't charge a hefty markup, unlike its physical products based on branding and style.
The new Beats Music is expected at some point this year and is currently being tested by employees on a new mobile iOS.
In addition to the revamping of Beats Music, Apple is trying to secure more exclusive music for iTunes and iTunes Radio. One new hire who will help secure these deals and curate the radio will be Zane Lowe, who left BBC Radio One earlier this month for an undisclosed position at Apple. He is expected to give iTunes Radio more of a mission with one of the ideas to make it more geographically targeted, like a traditional radio station with Lowe as the voice.
This is all developing as we speak and it will be interesting to see how Apple and Beats roll this out officially.
