Apple in negotiations to purchase streaming service Spotify - rumor

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
A new rumor claims Apple is in early negotiations with Spotify, a European streaming music service, to potentially acquire the company and bolster its licensing for a potential future cloud-based iTunes [update: Spotify has outright denied the rumor].



Update: Spotify gave a comment to CNet to say that the company has no intention of selling Spotify. A spokesperson said the company ordinarily wouldn't comment on such rumors.



The information regarding alleged talks came Tuesday from Michael Arrington of TechCrunch. The report said that the two companies are talking and have talked before, but a deal is far from certain.



"Apple and Spotify are in on-again, off-again discussions about an acquisition, but at best it's very early in the process," Arrington wrote. "No firm price has been offered, no term sheet tabled. Still, it's interesting that the two are talking."



But he also added a "way more interesting" tidbit: "Last year, around the time that Apple acquired music service Lala, Google and Spotify were deep in acquisition discussion, says a source with knowledge of the negotiations."



Those alleged talks reportedly fell through because Google wanted all label deals to be "grandfathered" in, ensuring the search giant would acquire the same content deals enjoyed by Spotify. But most of those deals have clauses that they will terminate if a company is acquired.



"So if a company like Spotify gets great label deals, like they have in Europe, those deals have to be completely renegotiated of they're acquired," Arrington wrote. "It ends up making these companies largely un-buyable."



Rumors of a cloud-based iTunes streaming service have remained constant throughout 2010, but reports have alleged that Apple's plans have been held up by licensing deals with the content owners. Apple reportedly wants to make any user's iTunes library accessible from any browser or connected device, such as an iPhone or iPad.



In late 2009, Apple purchased streaming music company Lala, in a deal that was believed to pave the way for an iTunes streaming service, in much the same the acquisition of mobile advertising firm Quattro Wireless led to the launch of Apple's iAd network. But while iAds launched in July, a cloud-based iTunes service remains a myth.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 35
    51 billion in cash on hand. Hmmm....I wonder if they'll want to pick up my debt. Low 5 figures for me.
  • Reply 2 of 35
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Apple could kill the new Spotify Windows Phone app. A small repay for Halo.
  • Reply 3 of 35
    I hope Apple do not waste their money on this overpriced rubbish.
  • Reply 4 of 35
    Read somewhere recently where Spotify was particularly hated/feared by the music industry. Anybody know why that might be?
  • Reply 5 of 35
    the rumors about Apple acquiring make no sense. I honestly think it would be a bad move



    Adobe would bring anit-competitive lawsuits



    Why acquire Spotify when they bought Lala?



    Facebook - definitely don't see that happening. An investment maybe.



    In my opinion they should buy the following;



    Skype - great tech to build out a VOIP platform and a competitor to Google Voice



    DropBox - this would be killer if integrated into MobileMe



    Yahoo - yes Yahoo (as crazy it may sound). This would give Apple the ability to build a competitor to Bing & Google search. Yahoo has other online properties that could come in handy as well



    On the gaming front, Valve would be a great acquisition. This could help cement the Mac as a great gaming platform
  • Reply 6 of 35
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tru_canuk View Post


    the rumors about Apple acquiring make no sense. I honestly think it would be a bad move



    Adobe would bring anit-competitive lawsuits



    Why acquire Spotify when they bought Lala?



    Facebook - definitely don't see that happening. An investment maybe.



    In my opinion they should buy the following;



    Skype - great tech to build out a VOIP platform and a competitor to Google Voice



    DropBox - this would be killer if integrated into MobileMe



    Yahoo - yes Yahoo (as crazy it may sound). This would give Apple the ability to build a competitor to Bing & Google search. Yahoo has other online properties that could come in handy as well



    On the gaming front, Valve would be a great acquisition. This could help cement the Mac as a great gaming platform



    They aren't going to buy Skype.



    They've patented several areas to duplicate what Skype does. Follow their patents.



    Yahoo is partnered with Microsoft. Not happening.



    Valve? No. They'll work with Valve to improve the Gaming experience. That's it.



    Facebook? Hell no. Ping will just evolve into Apple's ecosystem and cloud subsystem.



    Dropbox? They can roll their own, easily. It's a matter when that happens.
  • Reply 7 of 35
    grkinggrking Posts: 533member
    Lala anyone?
  • Reply 8 of 35


    deleted

  • Reply 9 of 35
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post


    They aren't going to buy Skype.



    They've patented several areas to duplicate what Skype does. Follow their patents.



    Yahoo is partnered with Microsoft. Not happening.



    Valve? No. They'll work with Valve to improve the Gaming experience. That's it.



    Facebook? Hell no. Ping will just evolve into Apple's ecosystem and cloud subsystem.



    Dropbox? They can roll their own, easily. It's a matter when that happens.



    None of the above, nor Disney or Sony.



    Netflix is the only logical choice; Apple will have direct access to 10+ million subscribers. Stock will be accretive due to additional revenue from selling more Apple TV 2 and even more subscribers for the Netflix's movie rental business. 10 million users is a lot of halo effect!!!



    Google might not like that alliance and might wanna bid up the price.



    It might cost Apple up to $20B, Netflix is currently value at $9+ billion (its going up as I'm typing!!!)



    According to June SEC filing, Fidility Investments owns close to 20% of NFLX and close to 8% of AAPL; guess they will have the final say. If they spin it the right way, it will boost their AAPL holdings and probably hurt their holdings of Google - approx. $10B.
  • Reply 10 of 35
    vinney57vinney57 Posts: 1,162member
    This is a MUCH more credible takeover target. Huge mindshare in Europe and the service works very well. The record companies don't like it because Spotify are paying Radio level fees but essentially killing record sales (including iTunes). The US record companies are resisting strongly. Users love it of course.
  • Reply 11 of 35
    wigginwiggin Posts: 2,265member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tru_canuk View Post


    Why acquire Spotify when they bought Lala?



    Because Lala has licenses to stream music to US customers and Spotify has licenses to stream music to European customers.



    The requirements by the labels to have to negotiate separate licenses for every country/region independently is one of the biggest impediments to the spread of online content.
  • Reply 12 of 35
    estyleestyle Posts: 201member
    Why is no one starting the rumor that apple acquire AT&T?



    That would definitely allow them to improve the user experience and

    it is definitely in keeping with their cloud computing goal.
  • Reply 13 of 35
    newbeenewbee Posts: 2,055member
    It would seem that Apples' pile of cash is starting to "burn a hole" in the pocket of everyone .... except Apple! .. Thank God that Apple is not prone to "impulse Buying".
  • Reply 14 of 35
    desarcdesarc Posts: 642member
    well I heard a rumor that Apple is planning on buying France.

    add it to the rumor nonsense.
  • Reply 15 of 35
    bagmanbagman Posts: 349member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by estyle View Post


    Why is no one starting the rumor that apple acquire AT&T?



    That would definitely allow them to improve the user experience and

    it is definitely in keeping with their cloud computing goal.



    Why overpay for a service (along with the cable guys) who will someday be relegated to the dumb-pipe status they deserve, after decades of using monopolistic powers granted by congress to stick it to consumers.



    Here's hoping Jobs can negotiate with the media moguls before cable & telcos tie up all the media rights. Disney is a start, but Comcast is heading them off at the pass, and I don't know if the telcos are in the game at all (does ATT/U-verse own any media assets?).



    I know Jobs' dream is to break up the logjam and oligopolistic behavior of the media titans, but he may not see his dream for quite awhile, if ever (ah, perchance to dream....)



    Why doesn't he buy EMC/VMware before Ellison gets his hands on it? That would do wonders for his cloud, don't you think? (hey, my rumors are better than youuuuurs, na, na, na, na, na, naaa!
  • Reply 16 of 35
    Please don't buy spotify - I would like spotify to come to the US on it's own terms. This is what iTunes would need to make Ping RIGHT, though - but they'd just dumb down the service to what Ping is now.
  • Reply 17 of 35
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by estyle View Post


    Why is no one starting the rumor that apple acquire AT&T?



    That would definitely allow them to improve the user experience and

    it is definitely in keeping with their cloud computing goal.



    Because they are the original bag of hurt.
  • Reply 18 of 35
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wiggin View Post


    Because Lala has licenses to stream music to US customers and Spotify has licenses to stream music to European customers.



    The requirements by the labels to have to negotiate separate licenses for every country/region independently is one of the biggest impediments to the spread of online content.



    That's a good point. That's something I hadn't thought of. From that perspective Spotify would probably be a great purchase.
  • Reply 19 of 35
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by desarc View Post


    well I heard a rumor that Apple is planning on buying France.

    add it to the rumor nonsense.



    Why buy France... just send a couple of people over there and they'll surrender. Give the country to you...
  • Reply 20 of 35
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tru_canuk View Post


    That's a good point. That's something I hadn't thought of. From that perspective Spotify would probably be a great purchase.



    But... from reading the article one would assume that the lack of grandfathering content rights meant that Lala and a potential Spotify deal are purely for IP reasons?



    Spotify is all kinds of awesome to use. I hope Apple buy them and use the talent & new ideas that Spotify demonstrate. It would certainly improve Ping by about a million percent.





    On another point, who said the labels hate Spotify? They own part of it! I heard they got a really sweet deal too. As in pretty much free.
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