Imagine clicking iTunes’ “Buy” button to purchase the latest record from Drake or Pharrell Williams, only to get a popup from Apple suggesting you’re behind the times.

That’s what might happen as Apple uses its massive consumer base to push streaming music on the masses, even going so far as prompting iTunes users to switch from buying songs to subscribing to a cloud service.

That sort of mid-purchase upsell is just one possible element of Cupertino’s strategy to shake up the music industry again, and the Apple streaming music plan just might be crazy enough to work.

Apple’s plans for its relaunched Beats Music streaming music service, rumored to be revealed at next week’s WWDC, took another step forward this weekend.

A new report suggests that Apple is currently in talks with Drake, Pharrell Williams and David Guetta for them to come on board as guest DJs for iTunes Radio. As three of the biggest names in music, having these artists on its roster would give Apple a massive selling point in its upcoming streaming music war with rivals like Spotify.

I had been looking forward to the Google I/O keynote for weeks before it kicked off Thursday. I was rubbing my hands together like a little kid on Christmas morning when Sundar Pichai, Google’s senior vice president, took to the stage to reveal what the company had up its sleeve.

But when the event ended two and a half hours later, I couldn’t have been more disappointed. Santa had visited — but instead of bringing what was on my list, he’d left me with a bunch of cheap gifts I knew I’d be bored with by the time the turkey was cooked.

7 of the 15 artists with an ownership stake in Jay Z’s troubled Tidal streaming music service may have their music pulled from it as a result of Jay Z failing to reach a music licencing agreement with Sony, which owns many of the streaming rights to the musicians in question.

Alicia Keys, Daft Punk, Jack White, Calvin Harris, J Cole, Usher have all released albums under one of Sony’s labels, while even Jay’s own wife Beyonce could see her music vanish from her husband’s attempt at a challenger to digital music giants like Spotify and Apple.

The rumor mill continues to churn about what the hell Apple is going to do with Beats Music. It’s been a year since Apple paid $3 billion to acquire the upstart music service and headphone maker, but we are no closer to understanding why Cupertino laid out the cash.

When Apple purchased Beats Music and Beats Electronics, it did so with a splash it generally reserves for the unveiling of a game-changing product like the Apple Watch. Since then, it’s basically been crickets.

It is clear Apple has a way to go to compete in the streaming music game against Spotify, Pandora and the other services scrambling to get a piece of the music industry pie. But what form will Apple’s next music play take?

Apple’s VP of operations, Jeff Williams, took the stage at Recode’s Code Conference today to talk about everything from his pride and joy (ResearchKit), to the future of Apple Watch.

A full lineup of new software and products are sure to be announced next month at WWDC, but Williams revealed some of the surprises early, telling Walt Mossberg that Apple Watch apps are about to get a new SDK so they can run faster.  Apple’s electric car project came up as well with Williams calling cars  ‘the ultimate mobile device.’

Here are seven juicy insights into Apple’s future from the interview:

This week: ok sure, Apple may have forever shelved plans for a proper television, but reports of a souped-up Apple TV debuting at WWDC will make you forget all that. Plus: the good stuff in Apple’s first Watch update; new Macbook Pros and iMacs get faster specs and bigger price tags; and Steve Jobs teaches bad actors a lesson they shan’t forget.

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Show notes ahead!

Kanye West is reportedly distancing himself from Jay Z’s Tidal music service and set to launch his next album — his seventh solo studio album — on Apple’s refreshed Beats Music service, rumored to arrive at this year’s WWDC in June.

Called SWISH, Kanye’s album currently has no official release date, although Wikipedia (for what it’s worth) claims it will drop on June 1. WWDC kicks off one week later on June 8 at Moscone West in San Francisco.

Apple is expected to unveil its huge overhaul of Beats Music in just a few weeks at WWDC but Spotify is firing shots first in the battle for music streaming dominance with a huge update for its iPhone app.

Spotify took the wraps off its new music experience at a keynote this morning, revealing a new Now start page for music discovery to go along with additions such as podcasts, video clips, original content, and an awesome new feature for joggers that matches songs to your running tempo.

Here’s a rundown of the new features:

Rumors surrounding Apple’s plans for TV have been picking up considerably as its Worldwide Developers Conference draws near in June.

But the idea of a standalone Apple TV set (not the little hockey puck that exists already) eventually becoming a reality is starting to look pretty bleak. Not everyone has given up hope, though. As the biggest proponent of the Apple HDTV rumor throws in the towel, one of the world’s most powerful investors remains convinced that it will happen.