DOJ Investigating Apple’s Tactics To Kill Free Streaming Services

When Apple does something, it does it big, and its upcoming relaunch of Beats’ music service is going to be no different. However, it appears that the company is being a little too aggressive with regards to assuring the service is going to succeed.

The Verge reports that the United State’s Department of Justice is investigating some anti-competitive measures Apple’s been taking to increase the appeal of Beats at launch. Some industry insiders have said that Apple wants services like Spotify to end their free tier, which would make that particular service’s userbase plummet down to 25%.

It’s also said that Apple has been targeting YouTube as well. The company apparently offered to pay YouTube’s music licensing fee to have Universal Music Group pull all of its videos from the service. To better understand the impact that could have, check out all of the artists represented by UMG.

Whatever Apple’s goals were here, they seemed to have failed. It’s widely expected that Beats’ relaunch will coincide with Apple’s WWDC next month, so it won’t be much longer until we find out how much merit the service has on its own. It goes without saying that it’s going to launch to some intense competition.