Apple is reportedly planning to expand its iTunes Radio service outside the U.S. and reach out to music lovers in Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, as well as Nordic countries, as early as next year.
You sure did enjoy the popular, "Hold On, We're Going Home," by Canadian rapper Drake on iTunes Radio, the most-listened song. But it seems unfair that fans from the singer's birth country do not enjoy the service. Drake's song played a huge part in its popularity. But if what we hear is true, then Apple has definitely found a nice way to thank the North American country for giving the music industry a talented gift.
You must have guessed it by now. Apple is reportedly planning to bring its popular iTunes Radio streaming service to Canada and also to other English-speaking countries including the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and Nordic countries as early as next year. Bloomberg was first to learn the news from "people with knowledge of the situation." But there has been no information from the tech giant to back it up. For all its worth, it would be a great step as Canada lacks music streaming services from big names in the industry including Pandora, Spotify, Google Play Music All Access and Rhapsody due to licensing troubles and high royalties.
Music streaming services have vastly grown in the United States. Pandora, for instance, served as a popular music app and Apple users widely benefitted with its service since 2008. It has more than 80 million users and nearly a 800,000 songs library. Since Apple launched its iTunes Radio service alongside iOS7 launch, September 18, Pandora has found itself a strong competitor. Just five days after the service went live, iTunes radio recorded some 11 million unique listeners. But if you are wondering how many listeners are currently enjoying the service, well we are wondering too as the company is yet to announce its next report on iTunes user-base.
If the latest move to expand iTunes to new countries is legitimate, then Apple is bound to take a prominent place in the music streaming business and gain a strong foothold against Pandora.
On the other hand, Pandora has not expressed any plans of expanding its service beyond the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.
"Our hope is just that over time, as the benefits of our service become more and more obvious and apparent, that artists in particular will agitate and help propel this adoption in other countries," Pandora founder Tim Westergren said at a Sept. 24 investor conference, the report adds.
