Following in the footsteps of Spotify, Pandora, Tidal and more, Apple has launched the long-awaited Apple Music. The announcement was made at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, and shows to be an ambitious program that meshes streaming service, social network and a 24-hour radio station. In an already crowded market, Apple’s billion-dollar partnership with Beats Music aims to integrate the streaming needs of users which Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine describes as currently a “fragmented mess.”
“I reached to Tim Cook and Eddy Cue and said…’Can we build a bigger and better ecosystem with the elegance and simplicity that only Apple can do?”
The launch featured stellar celeb cameos from Drake and Zane Lowe – impressive, but a tad more subtle than Tidal’s celebrity-studded heave. Apple Music, according to the Guardian and industry experts, is predicted to overtake already popular streaming services. “Can Apple beat Spotify? Yes, it can, not because its service will be any better but because it can build its new music service into the hundreds of millions of devices that its loyal Apple users already love,” says Forrester analyst James McQuivey.
“This is something that simplifies everything for the modern musician like myself, and the modern consumer like you,” proclaimed Drake, high-fiving Apple CEO Tim Cook. Apple Music will also incorporate a 24-hour, “global” radio station catered to nearly all time zones around the world, headed by BBC Radio 1’s radio megamind Zane Lowe; as well as a social network of sorts dubbed Connect, a platform for artists to post updates, videos, photos, and music for fans.
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has also stepped in as consultant for Apple Music, promising a “complete experience by combining the catalogue of the world’s music…directly from the artist to you.”
Apple Music is set to be launched on June 30 at a likely price point of $11.99 per month with a three-month trial period (similar to competitor Spotify’s pricing model), with the option of family pricing for $14.99 a month.
Will you try it out?