Trent Reznor playing a key role in Apple's upcoming streaming service

That Apple is working on the launch of a new music subscription service is not really a ‘news’ per se, but the New York Times yesterday reported that Trent Reznor is playing a key role in the design and launch of the new music application. 

The report states that Apple is working extensively with Beats engineers and executives to introduce it, and that iTunes Radio may also see an overhaul. This is interesting in itself because it had been assumed so far that the Beats teams had already been to a large extent integrated into Apple, whilst the piece seems to talk about them as two separate entities. 

The new Apple service will focus - much like Beats Music itself - on the curation aspects and has been characterised as “Spotify with Jimmy juice”, referring to Jimmy Iovine's involvement. The former Universal executive is still steering the project and one of his key assignments could be to secure exclusive album releases that could propel the new Apple service ahead of Spotify. 

Artists may be prepared to back the service given Apple’s clout and the fact that no free tier is available. In addition, Apple may well be prepared to offer some generous ‘bonuses’ to artists that decide to take a bet on the service at least in the first phase. 

What makes this release quite exciting is the fact that there is no guarantee that in spite its market Apple will necessarily be successful in its new venture. If it isn’t, the company will eventually lose its position of dominance in the music industry. 

For now, expect more leaks from music industry executives, Apple employees and other middlemen as the service heads towards a rumoured summer release. Let’s just hope that by the time it hits the market there is something left in its functionality that hasn’t leaked and can ‘wow’ the public.

(Andrea Leonelli)