Sony CEO Says Apple Announcing Streaming Music Service at WWDC

Apple is going to unveil its rumored streaming music service on Monday during the kick off for its annual Worldwide Developer Conference, according to Sony Music CEO Doug Morris. He spilled the beans on Apple's plans during an interview at the Cannes for the Midem Music Industry Festival on Sunday, implying his company will be on board at the beginning.

Sony says Apple unveiling music streaming service at WWDCSony says Apple unveiling music streaming service at WWDC

Mr. Morris was very clear on when Apple would unveil its new Beats Music-based streaming music service. "It's happening tomorrow," he said, meaning Monday. He also said Apple's entrance into the Spotify and Pandora's market will be a tipping point for streaming music services.

He said, according to Venture Beat,

What does Apple bring to this? Well, they've got $178 billion dollars in the bank. And they have 800 million credit cards in iTunes. Spotify has never really advertised because it's never been profitable. My guess is that Apple will promote this like crazy and I think that will have a halo effect on the streaming business.

Even though Apple already has iTunes Radio, it's coming into the streaming music game as a late entrant. Spotify and Pandora have been the big names in Internet streaming music while Beats—now owned by Apple—has lagged behind along with iTunes Radio.

When Apple bought Beats, co-founder Jimmy Iovine came along with the deal and has been working closely with Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Service Eddy Cue ever since. The two are considered a power house team and have likely been working together to swing the deals Apple needs to launch its streaming music service.

Apple is reportedly using top name DJs, musical artists, and music industry pros to curate playlists to set its service apart from the competition. Zane Lowe from BBC Radio 1 is already on board, and a recent report claims Drake, Pharrel, and David Guetta are signing deals, too.

"It's the beginning of an amazing moment for our industry," Mr. Morris said.

Mr. Morris's reveal steals a little thunder from Apple's keynote event scheduled for Monday morning because now there's one less surprise for CEO Tim Cook to reveal. We also know Apple will use the event to show off features from the upcoming releases of OS X for the Mac along with iOS 9 for the iPhone and iPad. The company will also share details about native app development for Apple Watch.

The Mac Observer will be on hand to bring you live coverage from Apple's WWDC 2015 keynote Monday morning. The even is set to start at 10AM pacific time, so be sure to check in for our as-it-happens news coverage and analysis.