Apple Music
Apple Music is a music streaming service launched by Apple in June 2015. The service is available in 167 countries and currently has over 100 million songs. Apple Music runs the free internet radio stations Apple Music 1, Apple Music Hits, Apple Music Country, Apple Música Uno, Apple Music Club, and Apple Music Chill which are broadcast live 24 hours a day.
Originally strictly a music service, Apple Music began expanding into video in 2016. Then-executive Jimmy Iovine stated that the intention for the service is to become a "cultural platform", and Apple reportedly wants the service to be a "one-stop shop for pop culture". The company is actively investing heavily in the production and purchasing of video content, both in terms of music videos and concert footage that support music releases, as well as web series and feature films.
Apple Music gained popularity rapidly after its launch, reaching 10 million subscribers in six months.
, the most streamed song of all time on Apple Music is "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran with more than 930 million plays worldwide.
Features
Apple Music subscribers can create a profile to share their music with friends and follow other users to view the music they are listening to on a regular basis. Apple Music's use of iCloud, which matches a users' songs to those found on the service, allows users to combine their iTunes music library with their Apple Music library and listen to their music all in one place.In 2018, with the release of iOS 12, Apple Music added the ability to search for a song by its lyrics.
Users also have the ability to view their most played songs, artists, and albums of the entire year through a feature called Apple Music replay. This feature tracks listening times down to the minute giving users accurate information on how much they may have listened to a specific song, artist, or album. The feature also tells the user specific genres that they listened to throughout the year, placing them in order from most listened-to to least listened-to. Apple Music Replay also provides an interactive system where it plays a generated animation that recaps what the user's activity was like over the past year, along with a milestone section that shows specific goals they reached.
| Name | Bitrate |
| High Efficiency | HE-AAC |
| High Quality | AAC 256 kbit/s |
| Lossless | ALAC 16-bit/44.1kHz to 24-bit/48kHz |
| Hi-Res Lossless | ALAC 16-bit or 24-bit/88.2kHz to 192kHz |
History
Pre-launch
Before Apple Music, the company's iPod and iTunes were known for having "revolutionized digital music." Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was known to be opposed to the idea of music subscription services. When Apple bought audio equipment maker Beats Electronics in 2014, Apple gained ownership of Beats' own service Beats Music, and made Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers responsible for the iTunes Radio service. Business Insider later reported that Apple was planning to merge the two services. Apple also hired noted New Zealand born British radio DJ Zane Lowe to serve as a music curator.Shortly before Apple Music was released, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift wrote an open letter publicly criticizing Apple's decision to not reimburse artists during a user's free trial period and announced that she would be holding back her album 1989 from the service. She said the policy was "unfair" as "Apple Music will not be paying writers, producers, or artists for those months". UK independent record label Beggars Group also criticized the trial period, saying it struggled "to see why rights owners and artists should bear this aspect of Apple's customer acquisition costs".
The day after Swift's letter, Apple Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue announced on Twitter that Apple had changed its policy, and that Apple Music "will pay artists for streaming, even during customers' free trial period". On Twitter, Swift wrote "After the events of this week, I've decided to put 1989 on Apple Music... And happily so". She concluded saying it was "the first time it's felt right in my gut to stream my album".
In negotiations with record labels for the new service, Apple allegedly attempted to encourage record labels to pull their content from the free, ad-supported tiers of competing services such as Spotify and Amazon Music in order to drive adoption of Apple Music and offered an incentive to Universal Music Group to pull its content from YouTube. The United States Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into this alleged cartel in May 2015.
Announcement and launch: 2015
After rumors and anticipation, Sony Music CEO Doug Morris confirmed on June 7, 2015, that Apple had plans to announce a music streaming service, saying "It's happening tomorrow," with the launch later in the month. Morris emphasized several times that he prefers paid streaming as opposed to ad-supported, from a financial perspective. Furthermore, Morris said he expects the service to be the "tipping point" to accelerate the growth of streaming, along with arguing that Apple has "$178 billion dollars in the bank. And they have 800 million credit cards in iTunes." as opposed to Spotify, which "never really advertised because it's never been profitable". Morris further argued that "Apple will promote this like crazy and I think that will have a halo effect on the streaming business. A rising tide will lift all boats. It's the beginning of an amazing moment for our industry."The announcement happened as the signature "one more thing..." reveal at Apple's conference. Hip hop artist Drake appeared onstage at the announcement event to elaborate on how he used the Connect platform, and Apple subsequently emphasized how "Independent music can share their music on Connect, too", in contrast to the iTunes Store, where small, independent artists were finding it difficult to participate.
Apple Music launched on June 30, 2015, in 100 countries. Earlier, new users used to receive a three-month free trial subscription, which changed to a monthly fee after three months. The trial lasts for a month now. A family plan allows six users to share a subscription at a reduced rate. Apple originally sought to enter the market at a lower price point for the service, but the music industry rejected the plan. The service debuted as an updated Music app on the iOS 8.4 update. Apple TV and Android device support was planned for a "fall" 2015 launch. A previously unreleased song by Pharrell Williams, entitled "Freedom", was used in promotional material and announced as an exclusive release on the launch of the service. The "History of Sound" advert for the launch of the Apple Music service was soundtracked by the tune There Is No Light by Wildbirds & Peacedrums, from their 2009 album The Snake. Upon its launch, Beats Music subscriptions and playlists were migrated to Apple Music, and the service was discontinued.
In October 2015, Drake and Apple signed a deal to release the music video for "Hotline Bling" exclusively on Apple Music. In December, Apple released an exclusive Taylor Swift tour documentary, called The 1989 World Tour, on Apple Music. In February 2016, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Dr. Dre would be starring in and executive producing a "dark semi-autobiographical drama" called Vital Signs. The production was described as "Apple's first scripted television series". Recode subsequently reported a few days later that the announcement of Dr. Dre's production was an effort to "extend Apple Music" in promotional ways rather than Apple actively exploring original television content. Citing Apple's deals with Drake and Swift in October and December 2015, respectively, the report referenced a Twitter user describing Apple's efforts as "content marketing".
In November 2015, Apple launched the Android version of Apple Music, touted by reporters as Apple's first "real" or "user-centric" Android app. The app was updated in April 2017 to match the service's iOS 10 design.
2016
In January 2016, Fortune reported that, six months after launching, Apple Music had reached 10 million paying subscribers, having spent six months reaching the same customer base that took competing music streaming service Spotify six years. This customer base increased to 11 million subscribers in February, 13 million in April, 15 million in June, 17 million in September, 20 million in December, 27 million in June 2017, 36 million in February 2018, 38 million in March 2018, 40 million in April 2018, 50 million as of May 2018, 56 million as of December 2018, and 60 million as of June 2019.In February 2016, Music Business Worldwide reported that, with Apple Music having launched in Turkey and Taiwan in the previous week, the service was available in 113 countries. The publication further wrote that those countries accounted for 59 regions that competing service Spotify did not. In August 2016, Apple Music was launched in Israel and South Korea.
In May 2016, a student membership was announced, that discounted the regular price of a subscription by 50%. The student plan was initially only available for eligible students in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, but was expanded to an additional 25 countries in November 2016.
In July 2016, Apple bought Carpool Karaoke from The Late Late Show with James Corden, with Variety writing that Apple was planning to distribute the series through Apple Music. Apple's adaptation of the series was originally supposed to premiere in April 2017, but was delayed without explanation. The series instead premiered on August 8, 2017.
Apple added personalized music playlists to the service, with the September 2016 launch of "My New Music Mix", and the June 2017 launch of "My Chill Mix".