Apple's Beats Music 'approaches Taylor Swift and Florence and the Machine'

The competition in the streaming arena appears to be heating up.

Beats Music has approached artists including Florence and the Machine and Taylor Swift about offering exclusive deals, according to a Bloomberg report.

The idea is that the partnerships will hopefully encourage more people to sign up to the Apple-owned subscription music service.

Apple bought Beats Music last May and it's expected the US company will relaunch it later this year.

It comes after Jay Z relaunched the Tidal streaming service last month with 15 other artists, taking on competitors like Music Key, Spotify and Deezer.

Taylor Swift's music is available on Tidal, despite the singer withdrawing her music from rival service Spotify.

Like Tidal, Beats Music is a pay-only service with no free elements (except for a 14-day free trial).

It's currently available in the US only, for a monthly fee of $9.99/month or $99.99/year.

"I've always known in my heart that Beats belonged with Apple," said Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine at the time.

"The idea when we started the company was inspired by Apple's unmatched ability to marry culture and technology.

"Apple's deep commitment to music fans, artists, songwriters and the music industry is something special."

Zane Lowe left Radio 1 to work at Apple in March.

Apple paid $3 billion (£2.1 billion) in May 2014 for Beats Music and Beats Electronics, which makes headphones, speakers and audio software.

Newsbeat approached Apple for a comment but a spokesperson said they didn't comment on rumours or speculation.

The article is excerpted from http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/32284670/apples-beats-music-approaches-taylor-swift-and-florence-and-the-machine