Apple wanted to launch its Pandora like music service a week ago but it seems Apple hit a road block with Licencing the music for the services. It seems Sony has the issue with Apple and until Apple clears up every the service will be in limbo.
Sony/ATV, which is owned by Sony and the estate of Michael Jackson, wanted Apple to pay a higher fee for each song played than Apple was willing to shell out, according to the New York Post.
News broke earlier this month that Apple was considering the idea of creating a streaming-music service similar to that of Pandora, the online-radio service. Typically, a music distributor will just pay the statutory rate that has been set for playing songs on Web radio and will not have to negotiate with individual rights holders. That’s what Pandora does.
But Apple wants to do more with the songs than the statutory agreement covers and this required the company to acquire tailor-made licensing, according to the Post’s story.
If you were wondering how Apple planned to compete with Pandora, the front runner in Web radio, this is how: Apple wants to enable users to play a “selected artist more times” than Pandora is allowed to under the statutory agreement, the Post reported.
According to industry sources who spoke with CNET, the music labels are not crazy about Pandora’s business model. The service doesn’t supply labels with a whole lot of revenue, and managers believe Pandora cannibalizes sales. They have hoped Apple would find a more lucrative way to enter the streaming-music business.
[cnet]
