Tesla Test-Driving Music Service?

Elon Musk‘s cutting-edge car manufacturer Tesla has reportedly been kicking the tires and having serious discussions about creating its own streaming music service. No, seriously. Music industry sources tell Recode.net that Tesla has had “talks” with all of the major labels about licensing a new, proprietary music service that would come bundled with its cars, which already come equipped with a high-tech dashboard and internet connectivity. The article states that label sources aren’t quite clear about the full scope of Tesla’s ultimate ambitions, but believe the company is interested in offering multiple tiers of service, starting with a Pandora-like web radio offering.

All of which begs the bigger question: “Why doesn’t Tesla simply integrate existing services, like Spotify or Apple Music, into all of its cars from the start — especially since Tesla already does a deal with Spotify for Teslas sold outside the U.S.?” As a Tesla spokesmodel stated, “We believe it’s important to have an exceptional in-car experience so our customers can listen to the music they want from whatever source they choose. Our goal is to simply achieve maximum happiness for our customers.” All righty, then.

But, as Recode says, “If Tesla does want to provide music to its customers — it delivered over 100,000 cars in January and has taken 400,000 preorders for the Model 3 (pictured), due out this summer — the record labels are happy to sell their stuff to the company.”