FTC Also Investigating Apple's Upcoming Music Streaming Service http://revealedtech.com/apple/mac/ftc-also-investigating-apples-upcoming-music-streaming-service/

there is so much about this story that tells us we need to wait (probably for months) before we can finally hear enough info (including from apple's perspective) in order for anybody to make a judgement.

the actions outlined in the rumor/article of course sound to be "predatory" (from a legal standpoint). but the nature of this leak's background is likely to have come from elements that support apple's competitors and not apple.

its of course very complicated and has parallels to iBooks.

in iBooks, Jobs was sure that the model in use by book publishers and amazon resulted in a fragmented industry that was not in the end good for the health of book publishing, and therefore in the end, also not good for consumers. i agree with that strategy (raising book prices to consumers) to elevate the book publishing industry as a whole. but in fact it is an illegal strategy in the way that apple went about it. the result is known: amazon won, the industry is hopelessly weak, there are less and less incentives to publish or take risk on marginal authors. and, the epub formats continue to not have real compatibility.

consumers have not benefitted from the US government enforced watchdog settlement.

so now this time with streaming: apple is again saying that for itself, and in general, the industry and concept itself to survive, that a monthly fee of USD 8 (or whatever it is) is not enough. and therefore apple would like to charge its customers USD 10 (for example).

this really makes me recall Jobs famous quote on camera to the question "why will publishers go with apple when it effectively raises prices to the customer" when he simply answered: "they just will" (or something very similar).

so now apple is trying the same approach with music streaming.

i happen to agree again with apple: with more and more adjustments to streaming flexibility, the streaming+++ model will be able to successfully break the "i want to own my music" mentality the more and more flexible the plans become and the more and more easier it becomes to play your music on any device you own at any time on demand.

i agree with apple that this kind of service is worth a premium. in the end, a slightly higher per month fee is acceptable if it has more added flexibility and usefulness to the consumer.

the question is: when apple is meeting with and negotiating with the music companies, in what way are they attempting to merely state their negotiating position and strategy, versus, trying to use their position within the music community (vis a vis iTunes store and download platform) to coerce music companies into buying into their vision.

this is where Mr. Eddie Cue again and again never fails to disappoint. He has not been successful for apple in any media related strategy during the past 5 years.

iTunes radio is a joke and limited. apple TV is a joke and limited. streaming has taken too long to get into action.

as a Beats-centric strategy evolves (as it is rumored), will the price that apple paid for it have been able to help apple evolve its music strategy into a long term viable new platform.

with Eddie in charge, I doubt it.

Source Article from http://www.macrumors.com/2015/05/05/ftc-investigates-new-streaming-serivce/
FTC Also Investigating Apple's Upcoming Music Streaming Service