Apple's Music Streaming Pulled At The Last Minute, Twice

There has been a lot of speculation about Apple's new streaming service over the last year, but it appears to be much closer than you think. Apparently Apple was all set to make the announcement in September during the iPhone 5 introduction, but it was pulled due to a last-minute snag.

The word is that publisher Sony/ATV caused Apple to pull the plug at the last minute because it could not agree on the per-song rights fee. Considering that Sony/ATV administers 2 million copyrights, including those by everyone from Taylor Swift and One Direction to the Beach Boys and Beatles, the company supposedly push for a higher rate, and Apple had to wait until things could get ironed out as a result.

That was bad enough, but it happened again in October when Apple introduced its iPad Mini, when once again, Sony/ATV refused to sign off on a deal.

It's been said that the iPad Mini is an especially good fit into Apple's long-term strategy of being a media controller, so the streaming music announcement would've fit nicely with that, but once again it was not to be. Look for this to be resolved soon, but Sony/ATV looks like it's driving a hard bargain, which hopefully will be good for its songwriters.

In the meantime, Pandora's stock is taking a beating and it's execs are selling off their shares. Everyone sees the writing on the wall as the 800 pound gorilla prepares to enter the market.

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