'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

AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and AirPods 4

Thursday November 13, 2025 11:35 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3, the AirPods 4, and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 firmware is 8B21, all up from the prior 8A358 firmware released in October. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 with ANC, and AirPods Pro 3...
iPhone Pocket Short

iPhone Pocket Now Available to Order, But Already Selling Out

Friday November 14, 2025 6:20 am PST by
Apple recently teamed up with Japanese fashion brand ISSEY MIYAKE to create the iPhone Pocket, a limited-edition knitted accessory designed to carry an iPhone. iPhone Pocket is available to order on Apple's online store starting today, in the United States, France, China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. However, it is already completely sold out in the United...
CarPlay Pinned Messages

iOS 26.2 Adds New CarPlay Setting

Thursday November 13, 2025 6:48 am PST by
iOS 26 extended pinned conversations in the Messages app to CarPlay, for quick access to your most frequent chats. However, some drivers may prefer the classic view with a list of individual conversations only, and Apple now lets users choose. Apple released the second beta of iOS 26.2 this week, and it introduces a new CarPlay setting for turning off pinned conversations in the Messages...
tvOS 26 Profiles

tvOS 26.2 Adds a Useful New Feature to Your Apple TV

Friday November 14, 2025 10:02 am PST by
Starting with the upcoming tvOS 26.2 update, currently in beta, additional profiles created on the Apple TV no longer require their own Apple Account. In the Settings app on the Apple TV, under Profiles and Accounts, anyone can create a new profile by simply entering a name and indicating whether the profile is for a kid. The profile will be associated with the primary user's Apple Account,...
Tim Cook WWDC 2018

Report: Tim Cook to Step Down as Apple CEO 'as Soon as Next Year'

Saturday November 15, 2025 2:40 pm PST by
Apple is preparing for Tim Cook to step down as CEO of the company "as soon as next year," according to the Financial Times. The company's board of directors and senior executives "recently intensified preparations for Cook to hand over the reins," the report said. While the report said that Apple is unlikely to name a new CEO before its next earnings report in late January, it went on to ...
apple silicon mac lineup 2024 feature purple m5

Apple's 2026 Mac Plans

Friday November 14, 2025 3:23 pm PST by
Most of Apple's Macs are slated to get M5 chips across 2026, and there's a possibility we'll even see the first M6 chips toward the end of the year. Updates are planned for everything from the MacBook Air to the Mac Studio. MacBook Air (Early 2026) The MacBook Air will be one of the first Macs to get a 2026 refresh, with an update planned for the first few months of the year. The MacBook...
walmart new ornametns

Walmart Black Friday Deals Begin Today With Low Prices on Headphones, TVs, and More

Friday November 14, 2025 7:55 am PST by
Walmart's Black Friday sale has officially kicked off today, with an online shopping event that's also seeing some matching deals in retail locations. There are quite a few major discounts in this sale, including savings on headphones, TVs, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Walmart. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us...
best early black friday deals

Best Black Friday Apple Deals Live Now - Save on AirPods, iPads, and Apple Watches

Saturday November 15, 2025 1:45 pm PST by
We're officially in the month of Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 28 in 2025. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When ...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Available Next Month With These 8 New Features

Tuesday November 11, 2025 9:48 am PST by
Apple released the first iOS 26.2 beta last week. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics in Apple Music, and more. In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date....
homepod mini thumb feature

New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and AirTag Were Expected This Year — Where Are They?

Wednesday November 12, 2025 11:42 am PST by
While it was rumored that Apple planned to release new versions of the HomePod mini, Apple TV, and AirTag this year, it is no longer clear if that will still happen. Back in January, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple planned to release new HomePod mini and Apple TV models "toward the end of the year," while he at one point expected a new AirTag to launch "around the middle of 2025." Yet,...

Top Rated Comments

camnchar Avatar
146 months ago
"Industry scuttlebutt" -- my favorite source.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PatriotInvasion Avatar
146 months ago
Anyone else notice that the Apple Watch OS home screen looks strikingly similar to the Beats Music setup layout?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jfischer Avatar
146 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
146 months ago
Will we get another free U2 album?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mr666 Avatar
146 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
146 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)