[rwhitman]

What Beats has in its corner, that Spotify doesn't, is a favorable relationship with the music industry, particularly the artists themselves. I've never used Beats streaming service but I was aware of it because of musicians like Trent Reznor plugging for it before it even came to market. Apparently they make deals where the artists get paid substantially more than Spotify. Beats is in a unique position to get music that other services can't, and could potentially have a monopoly on distribution of new releases from some major artists in a few years.

Thats what Apple just bought here, I'm fairly certain they could give a hoot about the technology, its the artist relationships and favorable streaming contracts that they're after.

[return0]

Doesn't apple itself have a great relationship with the music industry and a huge foothold in the consumers mind? Apple seems more than capable to build their own streaming service if they wanted to

[adwf]

Apple may have a great relationship with the music corporations, but not necessarily with the artists themselves. The big businesses are still taking the large slice of the pie and giving the artist very little back.

A streaming service where the artists can sell directly and pick up a larger percentage of the pie will quickly gather a large catalogue of new music.