Apple has managed to get Taylor Swift on board for Apple Music, but the company has yet to ink a deal with The Beatles, according to Bloomberg. Ms. Swift is a score for Apple, as she loudly pulled her catalog from Spotify, but the absence of The Beatles shows that not even Apple has been able to get everyone under one streaming roof. Yet.
The Fab Four, its survivors, and management company have been notoriously slow to embrace new music distribution formats. The Beatles came to the iTunes Store in 2010 in a deal that ended on and off again legal battles between Apple and the band.
While that deal gave Apple Inc. the rights to use "Apple" in the music industry (the source of their previous battles), it apparently didn't include future deals with streaming music. And thus The Beatles weren't mentioned in Monday's WWDC keynote, nor were their album covers featured in the wall of music Eddy Cue announced as part of Apple Music.
Eddy Cue and Apple Music
Apple did, however, announce that Apple Music subscribers would have access to some 30 million songs, making it very competitive with other services. Still, though The Beatles broke up 1970, their music remains highly desirable. Being able to bring them to Apple Music—especially as an exclusive—would be a feather in Tim Cook's hat.
Bloomberg didn't elaborate, but said that Apple was still in negotiations for additional rights.
Apple Music is scheduled to launch on June 30th at US$9.99 per month—a family plan for up to six users is priced at $14.99.