In what seem as a major push to strengthen its ecosystem, Apple will be overhauling its musical digital services. The unprecedented move since the company introduced iTunes will give Apple a direct link to compete with streaming services like Spotify.

It has been a year since the company decided to pay $3 billion for Beats and Apple appears intent on making that investment worthwhile sometime soon. According to the New York Times, Apple has been working with Beats engineers and executives to create an independent subscription streaming service.

This is on top of improving its iTunes Radio based on its listeners and regional markets. Should Apple accomplish what it envisions then it will be able to deliver splashy new albums before they hit anywhere else on the globe - thus emphasizing Beat's role in reshaping the company's ,market position in terms of digital streaming services.

Nine Inch Nails front man, Trent Reznor will be playing a major role in the app's overhaul. However, just like other Apple services, the company does not seem willing to lower its prices for the sake of taking down competition. A number of musical executives, who divulged information based on anonymity, said that Apple failed in convincing record labels to reduce costs. Sanford C. Bernstein analyst, Toni Sacconaghi, shares his thoughts: “They’re used to being a shaper rather than a responder."

"This is one of the few times where Apple is playing catch-up and not necessarily coming from a position of strength.” The analyst adds.

Consumer technology analyst for Creative Strategies, ben bajarin counters that Beats is just a way for Apple to hook more people on its products: “In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t trying to be the next big business...It’s just trying to be an evolution in their ecosystem that has many moving parts, not just one.”

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