A spokesman for Apple has denied allegations that the company was threatening artists to sign up for the highly publicized Apple Music streaming service that is scheduled to launch next week.  The issue arose last Wednesday when Brian Jonestown Massacre frontman Anton Newcombe claimed on Twitter that an Apple spokesman had threatened to pull the band's music from iTunes if he didn't agree to allow their music to be streamed for free for three months.  In response, a spokesman for the tech giant denied the allegations, saying that no such threats had been made.

"They said we want to stream your music free for three months," Newcombe said in a Tweet.  He asked the spokesman what would happen if he said no, the singer explained, and the spokesman said that his music would be removed from iTunes, cutting out a significant revenue stream for the band.  "Hardball? Fuck these satanic corporations," Newcombe continued, "The biggest company on earth wants to use my work to make money for three months and pay me nothing - [if] I say no, I'm banned..."  The allegations are interesting, at least, because it was widely reported that Apple still hadn't secured deals with the major labels just a few weeks before the new service was unveiled.

While the allegation that Apple was attempting to coerce musicians into allowing their music to be streamed for free are serious, the point may be moot now that the company has agreed to pay out royalties during the free trial period in response to Taylor Swift's threats to pull her popular 1989 album from the service.  The country-turned-pop superstar published an open letter over the weekend chastising Apple for what she called exploiting artists.  Apple responded to Swift less than a day later, changing its policy so that now it will pay out royalties during the free trial, which officially launches on June 30th.