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Apple might be preparing a 'cutthroat' move against Spotify

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Apple is talking to music labels about discontinuing their free-music-streaming licenses with Spotify, according to The Verge's Micah Singleton.

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If successful, this would be a giant blow to Spotify, which has 60 million users, only 15 million of whom are paid subscribers.

One source in the music industry even told The Verge that Apple was "cutthroat."

The Department of Justice is said to be looking into Apple's practices. Apple is most likely trying to clear the way for its own music service, which is rumored to debut in June and is said to be powered by Beats' music-streaming service.

Multiple reports have suggested Apple's streaming service could cost $7.99 per month — a less expensive price than the $9.99 fee Spotify charges for its premium service.

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If The Verge's report proves to be accurate, Apple seems to be trying to limit Spotify's selection of free music so people will be more tempted to pay for Apple's cheaper paid service.

Apple is also reportedly trying to deal a similar blow to YouTube. The report says Apple offered to pay YouTube's music-licensing fee to Universal Music Group if the label stopped putting its songs on YouTube.

Apple already has an antitrust monitor on its campus since it was found guilty in an e-book antitrust case last year, but the monitor's oversight doesn't extend beyond iBooks. A recent report from Reuters also suggested that Apple had not been cooperating with this antitrust monitor as well as it used to.

This is only one tactic Apple has reportedly been pursuing in an attempt to beef up a new music service. The company has reportedly been trying to court artists such as Taylor Swift and Florence and the Machine to offer new songs exclusively on its platform.

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The music service will most likely be integrated in Apple's next big iPhone update, iOS 9, which we will learn about next month but probably will not see debut until the fall. What makes this music-streaming service such a big deal, however, is the fact that Apple is reportedly designing a version of the app for Android as well — that would be the company's first Android app.

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