Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has launched its new generation music service termed Apple Music at its annual developer’s conference in San Francisco. Among other things, it has a subscription based on-demand streaming music service, a 24-hour worldwide Internet radio station, and a forum for artists to interact with fans known as Connect.
The rapper, Drake introduced the service calling it a tool addressing the modern musicians as well as the modern consumers. The team responsible for the Beats Music service acquired by Apple as part of its $3 billion takeover of Beats Electronics in 2014 masterminded the creation of Apple Music.
Apple Music will be debuted in 100 nations subsequently in June. It will be offered at the beginning on iOS, Mac and Windows. An Android version will be released later in autumn. It will have a free three-month trial after which it will cost $9.99 a month for individuals and $14.99 a month for a family plan for up to six members.
The mainstay of Apple Music is a catalogue of millions of songs and music videos as well as a gamut of programmed playlists made by its in-house band of editors and by musicians. Also available is a 24-hour radio station helmed by former BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe. The radio station is christened Beats 1 and will broadcast 24 hours a day from London, Los Angeles and New York. Additionally, Apple boasts of genre-specific stations with a wide range of music crafted by other DJs.
The third part of Apple Music is Connect a hybrid of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and SoundCloud. Connect doubles up as a platform for artists to publish music, videos and snaps for followers. They can also post from Connect to Facebook, Twitter and proprietary websites.
Apple is looking at capitalize on its hundreds of millions of iTunes accounts as well as smartphones and tablets owners. The music industry is keeping a close watch on Apple’s future moves and reckons that the contest between Apple, Spotify and miscellaneous streaming services will help catalyze the industry’s growth.
Sources: latrimes, wsj.com
