Apple Music has tweaked the $99 a year membership offer, and now does not require the use of a gift card. At this price, the service only costs $8.25 a month, which is cheaper than the $9.99 monthly options from competitors Spotify and Pandora.
At this point it’s not clear whether the offer is only for existing monthly subscribers, as an incentive to upgrade to a yearly plan. The option itself is buried deep within the Music app, and you’ll have to wade through to the Apple Music settings page to get it.
Apple’s user base is a little more than half that of its chief competitor, Spotify. Apple Music currently has 27 million paid subscribers against Spotify’s 50 million. Though the offer may not target new customers, it could help Apple retain those who are on a monthly plan for a longer period of time.
The music industry has been gradually shifting from the purchase model to the streaming one over the past several years, but it was only a year ago (early 2016) that streaming music made up the bulk of the music industry’s revenues.
Today, there are multiple paid streaming services from Amazon, SoundCloud, Pandora, Tidal and so on. However, Spotify has managed to keep its pole position in this space despite the intensifying competition.
Apple Music has the potential to overtake Spotify in terms of paid subscribers, but the iPhone maker will need to push very hard to make that happen. They’ve recently changed the Apple Music interface to make it more modern and intuitive, and this new offer is clearly aimed at customer retention.
More recently, Apple has hired two original TV programming content producers that have delivered hit programs like Breaking Bad and The Crown. The former Sony Pictures Television executives will report to Eddy Cue, senior vice president of Internet software and services at Apple.
Read the full report here:
Apple Music Original Programming Agenda Just Got Two Powerful Engines
It’s good to know that Apple is making all the right moves with Apple Music. It is imperative that they reach and then surpass Spotify’s numbers at the earliest, since this is one of the services Apple is depending on to offset their dependence on iPhone revenues in the long run.
Hopefully, the company will keep pushing aggressively to grow its Apple Music subscriber base. It would help to take a page out of Amazon’s play book for Amazon Prime, as far as the “pushing aggressively” part is concerned.
Thanks for visiting! Would you do us a favor? If you think it’s worth a few seconds, please like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. It would mean a lot to us. Thank you.
