China to Target Online Music Platforms in 2016, Apple Music Likely to Suffer
Aren’t we all aware of China’s internet policing? So, nothing it does can further surprise us. Now they are going to tighten their policing on online music services including Apple, in order to filter out “harmful” content before streaming.
The self-censorship program states that companies offering streaming services will need to start filtering out content from the 1st of January 2016. As of now, Chinese customers rely on local firms such as Ali Baba, Baidu etc for streaming music.
However, Apple had just launched a special Chinese version of Apple Music alongside an access to iTunes Movies and iBooks. So, customers who signed up then, are halfway through their three-month free trial period, soon after which China will enact the above mentioned regulations.
As of now, nobody knows how much these regulations will affect Apple Music. Although if Apple Music chooses to give China a miss, which is most likely what will happen because Apple has usually always been against censorship, then it might mean a whole lot of profit for other music platforms such as Spotify and Pandora. But what good is a platform without the global musicians, who might also back out with all the censorship issues? Let us know what you think about this.
