Apple pushing to acquire music rights for Pandora-esque radio service

Rumours about Apple trying to expand on its music business with its own radio service have been flying around for quite a while now, but reports are popping up that the company may be pushing to get deals that will let it unveil a radio service earlier. According to The New York Times, Apple is pushing to complete licensing deals that will allow it to unveil its own radio service, much like Pandora, Spotify, and Google’s own recently-launched Google Play Music All Access.

According to the report, Apple hasn’t been able to get its radio service off the ground yet because of issues in the licensing deals. Record companies seem to be demanding higher royalties than Apple is willing to pay. The company is hoping to secure these deals as soon as it can because it is supposedly going to unveil, and subsequently launch the service, at its developer conference, which is set to kick off next week on June 10.

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So far, the Cupertino-based company has signed a deal with one of the biggest music publishers in the world – Universal Music Group – but only for its recorded music rights. The company has also signed deals for both recorded music rights as well as music publishing with the Warner Music Group. It is said to still be in talks with Sony for the rights.

Much like Pandora and Spotify, Apple’s radio service is speculated to be free, albeit supported by ads. The company is a rather late arrival in the Internet radio scene, especially with the likes of Pandora and Spotify dominating the market and Google having already launched its All Access service. The radio service will work by tailoring music streams to each users tastes rather than having typical radio stations.