Apple is very late to the party when it comes to offering a music streaming service that’s capable of taking on Spotify. However, Apple does have one advantage over Spotify that could really help it catch up in terms of subscriber numbers: It’s got a ton of cash that it can throw at artists to produce exclusive content. Per The Verge, Beats Music this week is offering an exclusive remix of X Ambassadors and Jamie N Commons’ hit song “Jungle” that features a guest appearance by Jay-Z.
Although this is only one track, we’re pretty sure it’s also just the start of a larger effort by Apple and Beats to score exclusive rights to stream content before competitors do, just as Netflix has been using exclusive critically acclaimed shows like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black to reel in TV fans.
This isn’t something entirely new for Apple, either: Remember how late last year, Apple got exclusive rights to sell Beyonce’s latest album on the iTunes Store, which subsequently became the fastest selling album in iTunes’ history. Now that Jimmy Iovine has Apple’s giant cash pile to play around with, we can expect a lot more Beats Music exclusives coming down the pike.
