Rumor: streaming service Apple has social network for artists

Apple’s upcoming streaming service presumably has a social network, in which artists can share status updates. That reports 9to5 Mac. The service called Apple Music should be available to users by the end of June.

It looks like Apple Music will be part of iOS 8.4. According to 9to5 Mac, there was already a toggle called Artist Activity in a beta for iOS 8.4. In addition, the aforementioned release of the service at the end of June probably does not coincide with the release of iOS 9, which would only be in the pipeline before this fall. A variant for Android would also appear.

Apple Music will be a paid streaming service with free trial option, according to the site. It will borrow many features from Beats Music, the streaming service that is part of the Beats company, which Apple acquired last year for several billion euros.

The Artist Activity feature allows artists to post updates about music, while users with an iTunes account can respond. The feature is said to be turned off via the Restrictions menu in iOS, indicating it’s on by default.

The Cupertino company is set to announce the service in June during its keynote address at its WWDC developer conference. Rumors about the service have been going on for months.