Apple’s ‘cutthroat’ plan to kill off Spotify

Spotify’s free streaming music service revolutionised the way we listened to tunes when it first burst onto the digital stage back in 2008, now Apple wants to come to spoil the party by ending the free ride.

Apple is vying to compete with Spotify and others on the music streaming scene with the launch of its own paid-for service, which is set to debut in June. To help it compete and to snuff out the success of rivals, Apple is reportedly urging music labels not to re-new their licensing deals that allow services like Spotify to stream for free.

If successful it would effectively kill the free option and force 45 million of Spotify’s 60 million subscribers who currently use this price tier to re-assess their music streaming decision. If pay is the only way, then Apple will be right there waiting hoping to catch and entice all these strays with its service, which is said to be priced cheaper than Spotify at £7.99/mth as opposed to £9.99/mth.

The Verge reports Apple is allegedly going about its business in a “cutthroat” manner according to a music industry insider. Apple is also believed to be encouraging music labels to not license its music to Google’s YouTube Music Key – another comptetior in the market.

Apple’s intention to get a slice of the music streaming pie was inevitable after snapping up Spotify rival Beats Music and its electronics arm last year for a whopping $3 billion but these reported heavy-handed tactics will not come as good news to the millions of us enjoying free streaming music.

Apple to beat Spotify at its own game? 

Spotify’s success is arguably due to the way it delivers millions of tracks for free (just look at the numbers of free subscribers) and while the paid-for premium model might not have ads this is the best place for anyone looking for music without having to pay. Would it kill the likes of Spotify? No, but it would certainly make them a lot worse. 

The Department of Justice and the Federal Trading Commission is currently investigating the claims to see whether Apple is playing by the rules or using bully boy practices. No doubt users of the free service will be outraged at the idea of having the offering being ripped away and forced to pay for music they once enjoyed gratis. You can mark us down as one of the disgruntled mob should this happen.