US Is Probing Apple Over Its Deals for Beats Music

Apparently, US antitrust officials are scrutinizing Apple’s efforts to line up deals with record labels as it prepares to debut a new version of the Beats Music streaming service. The Federal Trade Commission is looking at whether Apple is using its position as the largest seller of music downloads through its iTunes store to put rival music services like Spotify at a disadvantage, apparently. The FTC’s inquiry could complicate Apple’s planned revamp of Beats Music in summer 2015. Apple has approached more than a dozen artists including Florence and the Machine for limited exclusive rights to music and partnerships to help bolster the service, people familiar with the effort have said.

FTC officials have discussed Apple’s practices with more than one record label, according to music-industry executives with knowledge of the matter. Apparently, the FTC's investigators, still in the early stages, of their inquiry, are asking whether Apple’s efforts will change the way music labels work with other streaming services, for example curtailing ad-supported music and pushing more songs into paid tiers of service at higher rates. Apple hasn’t made such demands on the labels, according to the music-industry executives.