What changed?

Ian’s getting back into the on-demand streaming business. So here’s the interesting question. When he took over Yahoo music, Yahoo’s on-demand streaming business went away. Now he’s going there again. So what’s different?

1. He might feel that Yahoo’s service was too far ahead of the market, and the market has now caught up.
2. He might feel that costs have come under control since then, so that it’s now possible to make a healthy business.
3. He might feel that Beats is the right parent for such a product and Yahoo was the wrong one. Maybe the company has more leverage in the market, or more plausible marketing to consumers, or the company can deliver higher quality.
4. He and Beats might have a new, yet undisclosed product vision which changes the game. What they’ve been talking about is curation, and it’s reasonably likely that all parties really believe that.