Apple attempts to lock down Taylor Swift for music app

Apple is reportedly in talks with music artists in order to gain exclusive content for its upcoming music service, Beats Music.

With significant competition in the form of Spotify, Pandora, Google Play Music and others, Apple is looking for a way to distinguish its music streaming application.

Recently, there have been rumours it would do this by offering the service for $7.99 when the industry standard is $9.99. However, according to Billboard, this idea received resistance from music labels, and Apple has reportedly backed down from its pricing goal.

According to Bloomberg, Apple has approached a number of artists, including Florence and the Machine and Taylor Swift.

The company is said to have asked Florence and the Machine about having limited streaming rights to a track for the band's upcoming June album.

At the end of last year, Taylor Swift pulled her music from the popular music streaming site, Spotify. An exclusive deal with the musician could boost subscriber rates for Beats Music.

A similar strategy has been employed by the recently relaunched music service, Tidal, which is owned by Jay-Z and 16 other musicians.

Tidal aims to attract users by providing content they cannot get anywhere else, for instance an exclusive new song from Beyonce and one from Rihanna.

Apple will reportedly also be targeting its already significant subscriber base, installing the Beats Music app automatically on Apple devices.

Bloomberg predicts Beats Music will be retooled and re-launched at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June, with a $9.99 a month subscription for individuals and $14.99 for a family plan.