Technology

Apple Planning for Beats 2 Through 5 Radio?

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Are we ready for more? More Beats streaming radio stations from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) that is. Under the name of Beats Electronics LLC, Apple has filed for U.S. trademark protection for word marks to B2, B3, B4 and B5, as well as the matching graphical marks the company already uses for its Beats 1 streaming radio service.

The filing was unearthed by French website Consomac and reported there Monday. There is no indication of what Apple plans to do with the trademarks or their spelled-out names, Beats 1, Beats 2 and so on, but it’s a reasonable bet that the company plans to do more than just sit on the marks.

The French website notes:

Mais si la station Beats 1 est assurément une excellente webradio, la sélection musicale très franchement dominée par le hip-hop et le rap n’est pas nécessairement du goût de tout le monde. Voilà donc la preuve qu’Apple envisage d’explorer d’autres horizons, et l’on ne pourra que s’en réjouir.


Our French is a little rusty, but what we make of this is that Beats 1 is an excellent streaming radio station, but the music selection is dominated by hip-hop and rap and is not necessarily up everyone’s street. Evidence that Apple is considering more streaming radio stations (d’autres horizons) is good news indeed.

When Apple negotiated its music licenses prior to the launch of Apple Music and Beats 1, the license agreements reportedly included rights for up to five streaming radio stations. Beats 1 is streamed to more than 100 countries.

Here are the marks, courtesy of Consomac:

Beats-1-2-3-4-5
consomac.fr

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