Where does Apple deal leave Beats' rivals?

Apple's potential purchase of Beats Electronics could spell trouble for some of Beats' rivals. Headphone manufacturers such as Skullcandy and Harman will likely be affected "very little in the short-term," said Aram Sinnreich, an assistant professor at Rutgers University who writes about music, technology, and media.

But the future might be less stable for rival music streaming services, such as Spotify and Pandora. "They're not making money," Sinnreich said. "But Apple can afford to lose money on music the way they always have."

For years, Apple's music business has been based on purchased, downloaded songs. Now, though, consumers are far more interested in streaming services of the type Apple would get in a Beats acquisition.

"Apple was kind of artificially buoyed for the last decade by having created this download market," said Sinnreich. "The future is clearly in streaming."