Apple is being investigated for allegedly requesting big-named musicians like Taylor Swift to remove their songs from rivals Spotify and YouTube and moving them to their new music streaming service, Apple Music.
The company behind the iPod launched its rehauled version of the iTunes on June 9 and costs $9.99 per month of use.
According to critics, while Apple may have helped boost the music industry, they are currently 'pressuring' record labels to pull out their content from apps that provide music and video streaming for free, such as Spotify and YouTube.
Daily Mail UK reports that the investigation was prompted by a letter from Universal Music Group's lawyer, that leaked to the New York attorney general's office. "[Universal] did not have any agreements with Apple, Sony Music Entertainment or Warner Music Group that would impede free or advert-supported streaming services, not did it have restrictions on licensing its music to any streaming service," the letter stated.
Attorney general Eric Schneiderman's spokesperson told the Mail that this investigation is in pursuit to ensure that music-streaming companies continue to "develop free from collusion and other anti-competitive practices."
Pop superstar Taylor Swift, who removed her music catalog from Spotify last year, just signed up for Apple's new service on Monday. The "Bad Blood" singer's withdrawal from Spotify was a protest against giving away free music, which she believes is almost similar to piracy.
Taylor Swift's team has not confirmed any allegations, however, in regards to agreeing to Apple's persuasive move.
Spotify founder, Daniel Ek reacted on the teen queen's deal with Apple by tweeting "OH OK," that he then deleted afterwards.
Established in Sweden, the music-streaming app has already reached 75 million users. 20 million of its users subscribe to the ad-free Spotify Premium, which costs $0.99 for the first three months and $9.99 for the succeeding months.
The 10-year-old company is Apple's strongest competitor aside from Jay Z's Tidal, which launched last March.
