Nine Inch Nails frontman and multi-instrumentalist rockstar Trent Reznor is no stranger when it comes to developing a well-equipped program for music listeners.
The former Beats Chief Creative Officer has joined forces with Apple and its employees, Hip Hop icon Dr. Dre, and Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine, to assist in re-modifying the Beats Music app and iTunes Radio. There is no confirmation yet on London’s indie rockstar Zane Lowe’s (who now works for Apple) involvement on the project.
According to Rolling Stone, in September 2014, “An Apple shutdown of Beats Music seemed all but certain,” which led to a temporary halt for the music streaming service and a $3 billion take over for Beats by Dre headphones.
The announcement on Wednesday, March 25, 2015 solidifies the “secret project” rumors with Apple on their competitive steps they are making to kick Spotify and Pandora out of their gaining threshold. While Apple is currently preparing for their iOS and mobile software relaunch, according to Rolling Stone, Hip Hop mogul Jay Z made a $56 million offer for the music service WiMP and Tidal through his self-entitled enterprise, Sean Carter. Could placing music streaming opportunities in the power of major music executives be a new trend and possibly beneficial to other musicians? Trent Reznor is also known for his music producing skills in addition to his multi-faceted abilities, which may have leverage over a worker who may not be as musically-inclined.
According to the New York Times, Apple developed a pitch to get record label executives to decrease their initial cost of licensing to give Apple leverage on subscriptions selling at $8 a month, which would’ve been a $2 difference from the $10 standard rates of their other competitors. The pitch was unsuccessful.
Consumers can expect more options for pay-worthy downloads but shouldn’t lean toward the hopes of it being free, since there has been some major controversy in the music industry for many years pertaining to the dominant streaming distribution sitting at a low revenue rate for artists. As technology changes and new innovations are developed electronically, the use of CDs and even your local radio station will be out of the trending curve.
The release date for the new facelift on the Beats Music app and iTunes Radio is still forthcoming while the excitement is building for possible anticipation of a release during the new iOS 8.4. No one knows yet whether there will be a name change for Beats Music.
There is no doubt that Apple, one of the music industry’s top retail trendsetters, is working in silence for a major comeback.
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