At its annual world wide developer conference Apple presented the much anticipated update to their mobile and tablet operating system iOS 7. One of the major changes brought to the table with iOS 7 is a new feature called iTunes Radio. iTunes Radio is a service which allows iOS users to stream music from the iTunes store directly without the need for purchasing the songs.
On the face of it, this new feature does not seem very significant. Other streaming services, such as Spotify, have been around for quite a while now. However, none of these services have a big name or brand like Apple behind it. While Apple does have a history of innovation, I would submit that in recent years it has shown a consistent pattern popularising already existing concepts rather than innovating. For example while 7-8 inch tablets existed before the iPad mini they were not as widely accepted in the open market until its release.
How is this relevant to music law? Simple. Like the iPad mini, Apple’s introduction of a streaming service will likely popularise the concept of a streaming music as a whole. The popularisation of streaming music may potentially give pirates a free, and thus viable, alternative to infringing copyright while still allowing the content creators to gain some revenue through advertisements and/or subscription fees.
That being said, it can be argued that the popularisation of streaming services will have very little impact on piracy. Streaming music while not fully popular in the mass market is still relatively well known. Thus, practically speaking, those who chose to steal music online are likely to be internet-savvy enough to know about streaming services which already exist.
This should be an interesting space to watch.
