Apple is working to bring down the fees associated with Beats Music, reports Recode. The site says the company is speaking with major record labels about a new set of rights and features it would like to include in a revamped version of the streaming music service for less than $10 per month.
Discussions are in their early stages, as Apple isn’t launching the overhauled Beats Music service until next year, but some critics wonder just how successful the firm will be in convincing folks in the music industry to agree to a price cut on a product they never wanted to exist in the first place.
If anyone could do it, though, it’d be Apple. In addition to its massive bank of credit cards and team of legendary negotiators, it recently picked up Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre. The pair carry some extremely large clout in the music industry—particularly Iovine, who co-founded Interscope Records.
The two executives came over to Apple as part of its $3 billion purchase of Beats Electronics earlier this year. That deal also included the 6-month-old Beats Music streaming service, which the company is rumored to be rebranding and rolling up into its iTunes family as early as February of next year.
[Recode]