The TechYaya offices are always playing music. Just yesterday I was speculating whether Apple Music would be the death knell of Tidal.
The service which launches this June 30th, is a cheaper subscription model and has an already marketed audience because of iTunes. Add artist direct access music and voila! Napster was way before its time.
Then the TechYaya legal nerds, basically all of TechYaya said, wait! There is something creepily too facile about this Apple Music deal. And wasn’t the death of Napster due to copyright infringement? Hmmm. But Apple has an excellent legal team. It wouldn’t be caught in that path but then again…
The deal seemed way too easy to believe.
Ah, the benefits of a legal education.
We didn’t have to wait a day before news came in that the attorney generals of New York and Connecticut were already investigating Apple and the Apple Music deal for possible antitrust violations.
The allegations question whether in the negotiations with music companies Apple pressured the music labels to sign exclusive contracts with Apple, and their subscription model, to the exclusion of freemium apps such as Spotify, Rdo and Pandora.
Universal Music Group is cooperating with the investigations.
Ah, for the love of music!
Read more in the New York Times: http://ow.ly/ObL9Z
-Chelsea Social
