Apple said to be pushing for end of free streaming on Spotify and others

Apple is reportedly urging record labels to abandon agreements with music streaming services that let those services offer free, on-demand music.

Ahead of Apple’s expected reveal of a revamped Beats Music music service, the U.S. Department of Justice is said to be investigating Apple’s business practices when surrounding streaming music. Apple is reportedly pushing music labels not to renew agreements that allow Spotify to offer their catalogs for free, according to The Verge:

Apple has been using its considerable power in the music industry to stop the music labels from renewing Spotify’s license to stream music through its free tier. Spotify currently has 60 million listeners, but only 15 million of them are paid users.

The company’s efforts are also reportedly extending to YouTube in an attempt to get labels to remove their music from Google’s service.

Apple is said to be highly aggressive about their new music service, which will reportedly see its debut as soon as WWDC 2015 in June. They have reportedly pursuing deals with artists for exclusive albums, going so far as to try and poach artists from rival music service Tidal.

Source: The Verge