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11/22/2024 12:02:35 am

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Apple Joins the Streaming Bandwagon with Apple Music

Apple Music

(Photo : Getty Images) Apple Music has reached a milestone 11 million subscribers.

In a move to re-establish its influence and dominance in digital music, Apple has unveiled its own streaming music service. Known as Apple Music, the service is the latest player in a market led by the likes of Spotify, Amazon Music, Audioboom (LSE:BOOM), and Google.

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Apple made sure to reveal the brand new streaming service with a bang. Unlike other launches of streaming services that are usually hosted by CEOs or heads of departments, Apple Music's launch was headed by rapper and hitmaker Drake. The service was built by the people behind Beats Music service that Apple acquired as a part of its purchase on the music tech firm, Beats Electronics.

Apple Music will serve as an index that includes millions of songs, music videos, and curated playlists to be streamed on-demand. Music fanatics will be delighted to know that some of their favorite musicians, including Drake, will create the playlists along with Apple's in-house music editors.

What separates this service apart from Spotify and the other streaming services is the 24-hour radio station headed by BBC Radio 1's DJ Zane Lowe. Called Beats 1, the radio station will be aired all day and all night from designated stations in Los Angeles, New York, and London. Beats co-founder, Jimmy Iovine, said in a speech during a launch that Beats 1 radio is nothing like the internet radios that play non-stop songs without an actual DJ to head the playing.

"The truth is: internet radio isn't really a radio, it's just a playlist of songs. So we wanted to do something really big: a worldwide radio station broadcasting around the globe," said Iovine during the launch.

Another feature that differentiates Apple Music is "Connect," a social media platform for artists where they can posts music, videos, and photos. Fans can follow these artists, who can post through Facebook, Twitter, and straight from their own websites. The goal is to become the hub for all music-related online activity, including the activity of the famous musicians who will get involved.

Forrester Analyst James McQuivey said that Apple Music is set to beat Spotify mainly because of the hundreds of millions of Apple device users serve as its direct target demographic. According to the IFPI's digital music report, an estimated 41 million people paid for a music subscription in 2014, and 100 million users tune in to free services. Collectively, these numbers bring in around $1.6 billion into the music streaming industry and now that Apple has entered the scene, the industry is expected to generate more money this year.

"Advertising will help, but magically updating your iPhone or iPad to include a free month of Apple's new service will help Apple catch up to Spotify's paid subscriber base in less than a year," said McQuivey in a post by The Guardian. McQuivey added that Apple Music's unique services will prompt further improvements from Spotify, and

Apple Music is expected to launch in 100 countries in late June, and will be initially available on iOS, Mac, Apple TV and Windows. Android users will also get to enjoy the service, as the version for such devices will be launched in autumn. Apple Music has a three-month trial, and charges $9.99 a month or $14.99 for a family plan that can be utilized by up to six people.

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