Apple and Beats v the rest of the streaming world

For weeks there have been rumours, guesses and plenty of speculation about whether Apple will announce its much anticipated streaming site this month.

And now it has unveiled a service which includes a radio station with personalised playlists and a choice of millions of songs on demand.

The service, developed alongside Beats by Dr Dre, is called Apple Music.

Chief executive Tim Cook claims it "will change the way you experience music forever".

The announcement came during a fancy display at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

The service includes a live radio station called Beats 1, tools to find playlists or individual songs and a social music network which allows users to share and comment on music.

Beats 1 will be led by former BBC Radio 1 presenter Zane Lowe and will be broadcast live from Los Angeles, New York and London.

Apple says its new Apple Music app will launch on 30 June and cost $9.99 (£6.50) a month, but that it will be free for the first three months.

Some of the industry's big players knew this announcement from Apple was coming, including Sony boss Doug Morris.

Before Apple's latest unveiling told Billboard magazine about Apple's potential to soar compared to one of its rivals, Spotify.

He said: "What does Apple bring to this? Well, they've got $178 billion in the bank. And they have 800 million credit cards.

"I think it's the beginning of an amazing moment for our industry. It may not be as fast as we would like because it takes a while to change peoples buying habits, but in my opinion it's coming and it's coming fast."

Artists ditching services

It's reported Kanye West, who stood on stage with Jay Z, Beyonce and several other artists to declare his love (and part ownership) for the new streaming service Tidal, has already ditched the brand in favour for Apple.

If true, that could mean his much anticipated new album could be an Apple exclusive.

He apparently deleted all reference, bar one, of Tidal from his Twitter account, according to The Wrap.

Kanye's record label has yet to respond to Newsbeat's request for a comment.

But let's stick with this theme of artists taking their music off one streaming source and only working with another.

So far, Taylor Swift is the only one to have done it. Remember when she took her back catalogue off the "experiment" Spotify?

According to International Business Times there are reports that Jay Z's Tidal may have to pull Sony signed artists, including wife Beyonce, because his team hasn't come to an agreement with the label yet. However, the opposite has been reported by Billboard.

How much?

Let's be honest, as a fan of music, the cost of it is important. And its the same for a maker of music.

Tidal, Spotify and Deezer charge around £9.99 for their basic packages and then if there's a high quality option available it can increase up to £19.99.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek

About 41 million people globally now pay for streaming music from all the above and other outlets, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

It says subscription revenue grew 39 percent last year to $1.6 billion.

Plus, let's not forgot only two weeks ago Spotify unveiled a whole new host of video content, curated playlists and even body-motivated music for runners, to up its game in the crowded market.

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