'Industry Scuttlebutt' Hints Apple May Be Planning February Revamp for Beats Music

beatsApple might be planning to unveil both its revamped music subscription service and its new branding alongside the upcoming 2015 Grammy Awards, reports Re/code, citing some "industry scuttlebutt."

When will Apple show off the new version of its subscription service and its new brand? Here's a guess backed up by some industry scuttlebutt: February -- presumably timed to the Grammy Awards, which will be held Feb. 8.

News of an upcoming rebrand first surfaced yesterday, after TechCrunch reported that Apple would be shutting down Beats Music. An Apple representative quickly refuted the claim saying it was "not true." Re/code went on to suggest that while Apple won't be shuttering Beats Music, the company may have plans to "modify it over time," changing the brand name.

Apple first acquired Beats Music back in May, and at the time, announced plans to leave the service untouched. There were no plans to integrate Beats Music into iTunes, with the company suggesting the streaming music service would remain as a standalone product. Beats Music was largely seen as Apple's answer to popular services like Spotify, aimed at improving declining music sales.

In recent weeks, Apple has made quite an effort to promote Beats Music, adding it to the list of "Apps Made by Apple" and recommending the app to new iOS users. Apple also added a Beats Music channel to the Apple TV last week alongside the release of iOS 8.

Thus far, there is no word on what Apple is planning for Beats Music, but a source at TechCrunch has suggested that Apple might roll the streaming music functionality into iTunes.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Dark Blue and Orange

iPhone 17 Release Date, Pre-Orders, and What to Expect

Thursday August 28, 2025 4:08 am PDT by
An iPhone 17 announcement is a dead cert for September 2025 – Apple has already sent out invites for an "Awe dropping" event on Tuesday, September 9 at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California. The timing follows Apple's trend of introducing new iPhone models annually in the fall. At the event, Apple is expected to unveil its new-generation iPhone 17, an all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17...
iPhone 17 Pro Iridescent Feature 2

iPhone 17 Pro Clear Case Leak Reveals Three Key Changes

Sunday August 31, 2025 1:26 pm PDT by
Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 17 series on Tuesday, September 9, and last-minute rumors about the devices continue to surface. The latest info comes from a leaker known as Majin Bu, who has shared alleged images of Apple's Clear Case for the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, or at least replicas. Image Credit: @MajinBuOfficial The images show three alleged changes compared to Apple's iP...
xiaomi apple ad india

Apple and Samsung Push Back Against Xiaomi's Bold India Ads

Friday August 29, 2025 4:54 am PDT by
Apple and Samsung have reportedly issued cease-and-desist notices to Xiaomi in India for an ad campaign that directly compares the rivals' devices to Xiaomi's products. The two companies have threatened the Chinese vendor with legal action, calling the ads "disparaging." Ads have appeared in local print media and on social media that take pot shots at the competitors' premium offerings. One...
iphone 16 pro ghost hand

iPhone 17 Pro: 5 Reasons Not to Upgrade This Year

Monday September 1, 2025 4:35 am PDT by
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 series this month, and the iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to get a new design for the rear casing and the camera area. But more significant changes to the lineup are not expected until next year, when the iPhone 18 models arrive. If you're thinking of trading in your iPhone for this year's latest, consider the following features rumored to be coming to...
iOS 18 on iPhone Arrow Down

Apple Preparing iOS 18.7 for iPhones as iOS 26 Release Date Nears

Sunday August 31, 2025 4:35 pm PDT by
Apple is preparing to release iOS 18.7 for compatible iPhone models, according to evidence of the update in the MacRumors visitor logs. We expect iOS 18.7 to be released in September, alongside iOS 26. The update will likely include fixes for security vulnerabilities, but little else. iOS 18.7 will be one of the final updates ever released for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR,...

Top Rated Comments

camnchar Avatar
143 months ago
"Industry scuttlebutt" -- my favorite source.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PatriotInvasion Avatar
143 months ago
Anyone else notice that the Apple Watch OS home screen looks strikingly similar to the Beats Music setup layout? MacRumors content image
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jfischer Avatar
143 months ago
Not scuttlebutt again! Ruining everything!

You're thinking of Scuzzlebutt.

Scuzzlebutt is a basket-weaving monster who lives on top of a mountain in South Park. He has a piece of celery as an arm and Patrick Duffy as a leg.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ValSalva Avatar
143 months ago
Will we get another free U2 album?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mr666 Avatar
143 months ago
The danger in "re-branding" is that people who were already a bit confused are then totally unable to get their heads around the choices for "multi-media", as it was once called, or "A-V" if we go back 50 years.

Right now, new Mac OS users are confused as to why iTunes categorizes and plays movies, QuickTime plays but doesn't categorize movies, and iPhoto categorizes but doesn't play movies. Add to that the annoyance that iMovie is really i-Create-Movie-Projects, not a full tilt app for everything about movies, and you have a tangled mess. One app strictly for movies and one strictly for music would settle the dust a bit, and ensure that new users don't throw up their hands and go right back to Windows. The syncing of all data (contacts, email, music, movies, photos, etc.) should be handled by one centralized app, not by iTunes or anything else. The problem would be what to call an "i" app that is dedicated to sync..... hmmm... wait a moment. I sync I know the answer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISync
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
3282868 Avatar
143 months ago
But for those who sync their iPhone and iPad content (apps, contacts, calendars, etc.) through iTunes... are they going to be told to sync their iPhone to "Music"?

The iTunes application on OSX is a very beefy app that does A LOT of things. For better or worse, stuff just kept getting added over the years.
Revamp "iSync", it's there, has been well before the iPhone as a conduit for syncing Contacts, Calendars, etc. in OS X with non-Apple devices.

A lot of us at Apple agree, iTunes should be "stripped down" to music. iBooks has its own bookstore, iMovie could handle Movie and Television purchases, the OS X App Store could bridge with iOS App's, allowing iSync to handle syncing.

For those of us using iTunes 12 beta, notice how this is halfway achieved? Each store is now accessed by the category you are in, that is you cannot access the Movie Store if you're in the Music section in iTunes.

The only issue would be non-OS X systems, and that is why Apple has not changed iTunes. Engineers would have to create MS counterparts for iMovie, iBooks, App's, etc. unless they leave iTunes for Windows untouched (which they could).
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)