US: Apple to offer $10 monthly music streaming service despite scrutiny

Apple is aiming to grow its streaming music business against established competitors including Spotify by unveiling a new $10-a-month service that it hopes will make paying customers out of consumers who presently are getting their streaming music elsewhere.

The idea of Apple offering such a service has been around for a while, especially since the company’s purchase of Beats Electronics in May 2014, which included the Beats Music streaming division as well as that company’s headphone business. Now Apple is expected to announce the new service at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which begins June 8, according to a June 1 report by The Wall Street Journal.

In early May, reports surfaced that US antitrust officials were looking into Apple’s practices in forming partnerships with music content companies that would provide the content received by customers under the new streaming offering. The antitrust probe into Apple by officials from the Federal Trade Commission is looking to determine if the company has been using its position as the largest seller of music downloads through its iTunes store to put rival music services like Spotify at a disadvantage.

Full content: The Wall Street Journal

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