The Day The Music Died

is Apple trying to kill off free music streaming? At least one news source thinks it might be. According to Business Insider "Apple has reached out to artists about curating their own channels for its streaming service, which is expected to be unveiled in June at the company's WWDC event.

They believe that 'this isn't going to be a new piece of software, but a complete relaunch of iTunes to move away from paid downloads to a paid streaming service.'

Apple acquired headphone company 'Beats' back in 2014 for US$ 3 billion but that didn't just include those ubiquitous headphones, found around the head of every 'cool' dude who is into their music.

Beats had its own streaming service a a star cast of music industry players. Meanwhile Apple has been busy behind the scenes asking artists like 'Florence and the Machine' and 'Taylor, I'm taking my music off Spotify Swift' to sign exclusive content deals. A bit like some shows only end up on Netflix.

While Digital Trends dot com doesn't think that 'a handful of exclusive albums will not be enough to convince consumers to cough up cash.' They think the Appleisation - good music curation, ease of use and a better royalty payment to artists might.

The rumour is that Apple will offer a plan launching in June at $10 a month in the U.S. that's about £6.50 in the UK - Apple has plenty of cash around to make this a success.

The Achilles heel? Well for it to work you need a robust internet service and there are plenty of parts of Britain, including the city I live in when I get 'no service' on my smart phone. And sleepy hamlets like parts of central London where the download speed from BT is not even half a mega byte. #applebeats #apple #itunes #beats #news