Hold the damn phone. One of the craziest rumors of the past couple months came true. Apple announced a new streaming service to take on Spotify, and it’s coming to Android. Apple Music is exactly what the rumors said it would be, and that is mind-blowing.
What is Apple Music?
Apple Music is Cupertino’s attempt at fighting back against the Spotifys and Play Musics of the world that have been eating into its iTunes revenue for years.
“We’ve had a long relationship with music,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “And music has had a rich history of change, some of which we’ve played a part in.”
Judging from the reviews, Apple Music is Spotify done in Apple format. It streams music, radio, music videos and your downloaded songs in one place.
The service will cost $9.99 per month, or $14.99 for up to six people on a family plan. The first three months for both are free. (For what it’s worth, Spotify has already said it will match Apple’s family pricing scheme.)
What Makes It Different From Spotify?
Honestly… not a lot. It streams music, it’s done in iOS 7 formatting, it looks Apple-y.
Apple is differentiating itself slightly with a collection of radio stations. These will play commercial-free tracks DJed around the clock by Apple’s “team of experts.” For those keeping score from home, now we know why Apple bought Beats- this is literally what Beats Music offered on its streaming service.
There will also be a mini-social network built into the app called Connect. It’s mainly for artists to share content and interact with their fans.
Where Can I Download It?
Apple Music will release for Android, iOS, Mac and Windows. iOS comes out June 30, with Android shipping in the fall.
Reactions
Wow. It’s amazing to see Apple making an Android app. Apple Music looks like iTunes all over again. Back in the 2000s Apple used iPods to drive sales of Macs, as there was no iTunes for Windows. The company eventually built iTunes for Windows because it recognized that reaching that audience was more important than selling Macs.
It’s fascinating to see the same thing happen all over again.
