A music streaming service is a type of online streaming media service that focuses primarily on music , and sometimes other forms of digital audio content such as podcasts . These services are usually subscription-based services allowing users to stream digital copyright restricted songs on-demand from a centralized library provided by the service. Some services may offer free tiers with limitations, such as advertising and limits on use. They typically incorporate a recommender system to help users discover other songs they may enjoy based on their listening history and other factors, as well as the ability to create and share public playlists with other users. It may also include customized radio or social media platforms .
94-473: Beats Music was a subscription-based music streaming service owned by the Beats Electronics division of Apple Inc. The service combined algorithmic personalization with curated music suggestions. Development began in 2012 under the codename "Daisy." The service built upon Beats' line of consumer electronics as well as its 2012 acquisition of MOG , a former music streaming platform. The service
188-445: A user interface deemed "not intuitive". However, it was praised for its playlist curation, a vast library of songs to stream, and its integration with other Apple devices and services. In iOS 10 , the app received a significant redesign, which received positive reviews for an updated interface with less clutter, improved navigation, and a bigger emphasis on users' libraries. Apple Music gained popularity rapidly after its launch, passing
282-661: A viral dance meme —was boosted to number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 2013 after U.S. YouTube views for music content were added to its methodology. After Spotify's launch, new competing services began to emerge in the North American market, including Beats Music —which was backed by headphone maker Beats Electronics , Microsoft Groove Music Pass (formerly Xbox Music), Amazon Music Unlimited , and Google Play Music All-Access (a branch of
376-496: 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,
470-403: A 320 kbit/s Ogg Vorbis bitrate. The implementation of iCloud Music Library caused significant issues for users. There were reports about music libraries being impacted by issues such as tracks moved to other albums, album art not matching the music, duplicate artists and songs, missing tracks, and synchronization problems. Mashable wrote that "Apple has not yet publicly acknowledged
564-491: A cent per steam, while streaming services like Spotify tripled in value with no increase in payouts to artists. This is one of the main limitations that comes with music streaming services. Digital distribution of music began to achieve prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s; MP3.com and PeopleSound were early forerunners to later services, offering the ability for musicians (including, especially, independent musicians ) to upload and distribute their songs online in
658-580: A customized user experience based on allowing users to browse works by individual pieces and movements (including individual and "Editor's Choice" selections of recordings), composers, performers (including soloists, orchestras, ensembles, choirs, and conductors), periods, and instruments. The app also features biographical profiles of composers (including specially-commissioned portraits), and curated playlists. Recordings are also being remastered for spatial audio, with at least one new album with spatial audio released per-week. On September 5, 2023, Apple acquired
752-591: A digital music store. In 2019, Beatport , an online music store primarily targeting DJs and electronic music , announced music streaming services known as Beatport Cloud and Beatport Link. The latter is designed to integrate directly with DJ software such as Serato , Rekordbox , Traktor , and its first-party web application Beatport DJ (which launched in 2021); the service targets professional DJs shifting to streaming-based models for their music libraries, as well as amateur DJs. By 2013, on-demand music streaming had begun to displace online music stores as
846-471: A group representing a number of major independent record labels . While no financial details were disclosed, Beats did indicate that it would pay the labels at the same rates as the major labels. On March 4, 2014, Beats Music acquired Topspin Media , a company which deals in the monetization of music and building relationships between musicians and their fans. Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers had left Topspin to join
940-423: A legal alternative to file sharing platforms such as Napster and Kazaa , the service allowed users to stream songs on-demand using peer-to-peer technology , and would be offered in subscription-based and ad-supported tiers. Ek stated that he wanted to "create a service that was better than piracy and at the same time compensates the music industry." In 2006, a French music streaming website known as Blogmusiq
1034-449: A minimum of 1,000 listens every year to receive royalties" starting early 2024. Additionally, some have expressed concern about the focus of streaming metrics as the primary source of monetary compensation for musicians and songwriters as streaming fraud gains traction. When music services already face critiques for taking large cuts from artists, some say their business models help record labels profit even more. Streaming services take
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#17327908924101128-580: A music curation team for the service, led by former IHeartMedia executive and KIIS-FM music director Julie Pilat. In August 2013, a landing page was discovered for Daisy under its final name, "Beats Music". The service was officially unveiled in January 2014, for a launch in the United States on January 21. In February 2014, Beats Music reached a licensing deal with the Merlin Network ,
1222-410: A music curator. After a period of 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
1316-566: A music service, Apple Music began expanding into video in 2016. Executive Jimmy Iovine has 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. The original iOS version of Apple Music received mixed reviews, with criticism directed towards
1410-535: A native application, Apple Music is available on the web with a web player in beta. On October 27, 2021, Sony announced that Apple Music would become available on the PlayStation 5 . On October 12, 2022, Apple Music became available for the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S . Before Apple Music, the company's iPod and iTunes were known for having "revolutionized digital music." Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs
1504-489: A new concert series that kicks off with Harry Styles live from New York on May 20. On October 19, 2021, Apple introduced the discounted Apple Music Voice plan at $ 4.99/month, which limits subscribers to only accessing the service's music library and playback features through Siri . On November 1, 2023, Apple discontinued the Apple Music Voice plan with no explanation. On June 24, 2022, Apple Music increased
1598-461: A partnership with Rhapsody owner RealNetworks to form the joint venture Rhapsody America, and transition Urge subscribers to Rhapsody. Yahoo Music Unlimited was discontinued in July 2008, and Yahoo also directed users to Rhapsody. In the 2010s, online streaming gradually had begun to displace radio airplay as a significant factor in the commercial success of music. Spotify officially launched in
1692-468: A programming veteran, as a creative executive of Apple's original video team, and a few days later, also hired Philip Matthys and Jennifer Wang Grazier from Hulu and Legendary Entertainment , respectively. On October 19, 2020, Apple launched Apple Music TV via Apple Music and the Apple TV app in the United States. Apple Music TV is a free, continuous 24/7 livestream focused on music videos, akin to
1786-593: A service also offering downloads and a music locker). Beats Electronics was later acquired by Apple Inc. , which discontinued Beats Music in 2015 and replaced it with a new Apple Music service. Tidal , a streaming service oriented towards high-fidelity audio, also emerged in 2015, with backing from rapper Jay-Z , and a focus on exclusive content. In October 2015, after initially offering "Music Key"—a subscription bundling Play Music All Access with ad-free viewing of music content on YouTube, Google launched YouTube Red — which extended ad-free access to all videos on
1880-424: A significant pace of growth during the 2010s, overtaking digital downloading as the largest source of revenue in the United States music industry in 2015, and accounting for a majority since 2016. As a result of its ascendance, streaming services (along with streams of music-related content on video sharing platforms ), were incorporated into the methodologies of major record charts ; the " album-equivalent unit "
1974-499: A song is playing, a "Now Playing" bar appears above the bottom navigation bar. When viewed, the Now Playing section allows users to add a song to their library, download it to their device, and like or dislike the song to improve suggestions on the "Home" tab. Other functions of the "Now Playing" section include the ability to control what music plays next and put songs on shuffle or repeat. Additionally, users can view live lyrics of
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#17327908924102068-433: 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 your activity was like over the past year, along with a milestone section that shows specific goals you reached. [1] The service
2162-412: A subscription music streaming service known as "Urge To Go". Urge was briefly integrated with Windows Media Player as a competitor to Apple 's iTunes and iTunes Store , but was discontinued in 2007 amid cannibalization by Microsoft's Zune platform (which was positioned as a competitor to iPod , and used its own separate DRM and music store that was incompatible with Urge). Viacom then entered into
2256-434: 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
2350-491: Is Spotify . However, by July 2018, Apple Music had surpassed Spotify in the number of paying users in the United States. 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
2444-553: Is a year-end playlist showing users their favorite tracks of the entire year, a feature similar to Spotify Wrapped . On November 20, 2019, Apple introduced Apple Music for Business, offering customized playlists for partnered retailers, while also revealing that the platform's catalog now hosted over 60 million songs. In 2020, Apple Music sealed deals with Universal Music Group , Sony Music and Warner Music Group for further promotion and streaming allowance of songs from artists on their labels. From October 30, 2020, Apple Music
2538-525: Is broadcast in over 100 countries. The Apple Music Radio service is free for all users, even without an Apple Music subscription. 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. Additionally,
2632-437: Is compatible with iOS devices running version 8.4 or later, iPadOS devices running version 13.0 or later, Music app on macOS Catalina or later, iTunes version 12.2 or later for Windows PCs, as well as Apple Watch , Apple TV , Apple CarPlay , and Apple HomePod . It is also available for Android devices running version 4.3 or later, ChromeOS devices, Amazon Echo devices, and Sonos speakers. For devices without
2726-609: Is the case for smaller artists, who take up a large portion of the music industry. Without an extensive fan base, these artists aren't able to make a sufficient amount of money. To increase the diversity and value of their services, music streaming services have sometimes produced or acquired other forms of music-related content besides songs, including music documentaries and concert presentations. Spotify had begun to increasingly make investments into podcasts , buoyed by acquisitions such as sports publication The Ringer and exclusive rights to The Joe Rogan Experience . In
2820-580: The GfK Entertainment charts in Germany also added streaming to its methodology; however, the metric is based on revenues generated from a song's availability on paid platforms only, thus excluding free ad-supported services. Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists . The service also includes
2914-479: The MP3 format. In 1999, MP3.com offered a service known as Beam-It, allowing users to rip and upload music from CDs they owned into a personal library they could stream via their accounts. The service was then the subject of a lawsuit by Universal Music Group , which ultimately ruled that the service constituted the unauthorized distribution of their copyrighted sound recordings. The lawsuit proved detrimental to
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3008-770: The dot-com bubble ; in 2005, the service evolved into Yahoo Music Unlimited , a subscription service that allowed songs to be streamed in DRM-protected Windows Media Audio (WMA), and purchased for an additional fee. The social networking service MySpace , and later the video sharing platform YouTube , also became prominent outlets for streaming music, with the latter becoming a particularly popular outlet for music videos and gradually displacing music television . In 2006, Swedish businessman Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon founded Spotify , which first launched in 2008; aiming to create
3102-571: The "Apple Music Sing" karaoke feature, which introduces real-time lyrics and on supported devices a new slider which allows for the volume of vocals to be adjusted independently from a track's instrumentals on supported songs. Apple is partnering with Bharti Airtel to provide its music and video streaming services to the telecom company's premium clients in India from 2024 at no cost. On August 13, 2021, Apple acquired classical music streaming service Primephonic , and announced that it would become
3196-631: The "big five" major labels. In 2003, Roxio acquired the assets associated with the former file sharing platform Napster . It was combined with assets from a second acquisition— PressPlay —to form a new service under the Napster brand, which included an online music store and subscription music streaming. Pandora Radio launched in 2005; the service initially allowed users to create and listen to internet radio stations based on categories such as genres, which could then be personalized by giving "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" ratings to songs and artists
3290-407: The 2010s, record charts began to increasingly include listener data from streaming platforms into their methodologies. In March 2012, Billboard launched a new "On-Demand Songs" chart, which was added to the formula of its flagship Hot 100 chart. In January 2013, On-Demand Songs was broadened into " Streaming Songs ", and YouTube views in the United States on videos containing music were added to
3384-473: The Apple Music team, upcoming album releases, as well as different categories including "Genres", "Moods", "Top Charts", and "Music Videos". In 2024, Apple released a new feature as part of iOS 18 replacing the 'Browse' tab. The 'New' feature is personalized to each listener. The "Radio" tab incorporates Apple Music Radio and other radio stations which play genre-specific or artist-related music, depending on
3478-579: The Apps , and will focus on the "app economy". The series has cast 100 developers, and premiered on June 6, 2017. In June 2017, Apple hired two television executives from Sony , Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg. The two have jointly held the title of "President" at Sony, and have helped develop shows including Breaking Bad and Shark Tank . The hiring was noted by the media as another significant effort by Apple to expand into original video productions. In early December 2017, Apple hired Michelle Lee,
3572-741: The Family plan increased $ 2 to $ 16.99/month, and the Annual plan for individuals increased $ 10 to $ 109/year. 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. On November 30, 2018, Apple added support for Apple Music on Amazon Echo speakers, after previously only being accessible on Apple's own HomePod speakers. On September 5, 2019, Apple released
3666-488: The For You section leaves a lot to be desired". Jordan Novet of VentureBeat wrote positively about the changes, stating "Apple has improved the overall design, as well as the experience". In December 2017, singer-songwriter Neil Young released a new archive as part of his Neil Young Archives project and criticized Apple for the audio quality offered by its Apple Music streaming service, stating: "Apple Music controls
3760-526: The Hot 100 formula the following month. In 2014, the UK Singles Chart similarly changed its methodology to include streaming. To account for streaming and the decline of album purchases, album charts began to adopt a metric known as " album-equivalent units " (AEUs), which are based on purchases of the album, and how many times individual songs from the album have been purchased or streamed. In 2016,
3854-545: The September 2016 launch of "My New Music Mix", and the June 2017 launch of "My Chill Mix". On December 13, 2018, Apple discontinued Apple Music's "Connect" feature in favor for their redesigned approach to artist profiles and the ability for users to share their music and playlists with friends and followers introduced in iOS 11. On November 15, 2019, Apple released a new Apple Music feature called Apple Music Replay, which
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3948-443: The United States in 2011, and Billboard began to increasingly include streams into the methodologies of its record charts . In 2012, Psy 's K-pop song " Gangnam Style " became a major international hit, driven primarily by the viral popularity of its music video; "Gangnam Style" would become the first YouTube video to reach one billion views . " Harlem Shake "—a song by trap producer Baauer that had become associated with
4042-584: The audio quality that is served to the masses and chooses to not make high quality available, reducing audio quality to between 5 percent and 20 percent of the master I made in the studio in all cases. So, the people hear 5 percent to 20 percent of what I created. ... Apple not offering a top-quality tier has led labels to stop making quality products available to the masses". Young's claim, however, did not stand up to technical scrutiny, with Apple delivering an industry-standard high-quality bitrate of 256 kbit/s AAC, slightly edging out Spotify in quality, which uses
4136-500: The basis for a new Apple Music app dedicated to classical music, planned to launch in 2022. The Apple Music Classical app was released for iOS on March 28, 2023; for Android on May 30, 2023; and for iPad on November 16, 2023. The Apple Music Classical app is currently translated only in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, and Dutch. The app is available for Apple Music subscribers exclusively and provides
4230-511: The beginning of an amazing moment for our industry." 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
4324-418: The classical music label BIS Records . Apple Music received mixed reviews at launch. Among the criticism, reviewers wrote that the user interface was "not intuitive", and an "embarrassing and confusing mess". They also wrote about battery life problems. However, the service was praised for its smart functions. Christina Warren of Mashable noted the emphasis on human curation in Apple Music, pointing out
4418-555: The company hired Trent Reznor of the band Nine Inch Nails to serve as its chief creative officer , and to help develop a new music service codenamed "Daisy". As opposed to its competitors such as Spotify , in Daisy the plan was to use "personalization" based on user listening habits in combination with expert music curators to suggest tracks. The company initially announced a launch by late 2013. The company had hired music industry members, radio personalities, and songwriters to serve as
4512-540: The company's former reputation as a "tastemaker" in the mid-2000s. Apple Music's major redesign in iOS 10 received more positive reviews. Caitlin McGarry of Macworld praised Apple for having "cleaned up the clutter, reconsidered the navigation tools, put your library front and center, and added algorithmically created playlists to rival Spotify 's." She noted bigger fonts, large amounts of white space, and she welcomed changes to various functionalities, concluding with
4606-462: The company, and it was subsequently acquired by UMG's parent company Vivendi Universal , and later sold to CNET (which shut down its music distribution platform). In December 2001, Rhapsody was launched by the startup Listen.com, becoming the first service to offer subscription-based streaming access to a library of music online. Initially limited to content from independent labels such as Naxos , it later reached agreements to stream music from
4700-544: The discontinuation of Groove Music Pass, and directed its users to Spotify. In 2018, YouTube Red rebranded as YouTube Premium, and YouTube concurrently introduced a redesigned YouTube Music platform, along with a separate YouTube Music subscription at a lower price point. The YouTube Music platform can be used without a subscription, but carries video advertising, and does not support background playback on mobile devices. The YouTube Music service eventually replaced Google Play Music entirely in 2020, and Google no longer operates
4794-482: The early days of MTV . Apple Music TV plans on having premieres of new music videos occur every Friday at 12PM ET, as well as occasional artist and themed takeovers, airings of Apple Music original documentaries and films, live events and shows, and chart countdowns. The service launched with a countdown of the 100 most streamed songs in the US of all time on Apple Music. On May 17, 2022, Apple Music announced Apple Music Live,
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#17327908924104888-491: The estimated number of users of paid services was 667 million in 2023 . In 2019, streaming services accounted for the majority of music revenue globally for the first time. Music streaming services have faced criticism over the amount of royalties they distribute, including accusations that they do not fairly compensate musicians and songwriters. In 2013, Spotify stated that it paid artists an average of $ 0.007 per stream. Music Week editor Tim Ingham commented that while
4982-753: 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. The announcement happened as
5076-559: The features were not mentioned in the update release notes. By December 28, 2021, Apple Music had upgraded its entire catalogue of 90 million tracks to have lossless audio. On September 22, 2022, Apple announced that it has signed a multi-year deal with the NFL to have Apple Music become the main sponsor of the Super Bowl halftime show beginning with Super Bowl LVII . With the release of iOS 16.2 on December 13, 2022, Apple introduced
5170-411: The figure may "initially seem alarming," he noted: "Unlike buying a CD or download, streaming is not a one-off payment. Hundreds of millions of streams of tracks are happening every day, which quickly multiplies the potential revenues on offer – and is a constant long-term source of income for artists." Amidst those rising number of streams, Spotify has also confirmed that they will require tracks "to get
5264-411: The first version of an Apple Music web player in beta. The web player gives users full access to their music libraries along with similar features from the Apple Music app, while it is missing key features that are expected to be added later. A Windows 11 app was released in beta in January 2023, to replace the aging iTunes for Windows. Apple has added personalized music playlists to the service, with
5358-656: The main revenue stream of digital music. In 2023, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) reported that growth in revenue in the music industry had increased by 11.2% compared to the previous year. In 2021—its largest increase in the past 20 years—with paid music streaming services accounting for $ 12.3 billion in revenue ($ 2.2 billion YoY), and ad-supported streaming $ 4.6 billion ($ 1.1 billion YoY). Revenue from music streaming services had more than doubled since 2017, and
5452-476: The milestone of 10 million subscribers in only six months. Though Apple does not disclose the amount of paid subscribers, research firm Midia Research estimated it at 78 million as of November 2021 . The service reached over 100 million songs in its streaming catalog in October 2022. As of May 5, 2023, the most streamed song of all time on Apple Music is " Shape of You " by Ed Sheeran with more than 930 million plays worldwide. On November 8, 2023, it
5546-433: The new service, 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. Apple Music was unveiled during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8, 2015, and launched on June 30, 2015. Concurrently with the public launch of Apple Music, Beats Music
5640-737: The online music service MOG , reportedly paying between $ 10 million and $ 16 million. Beats officials said this the acquisition was part of the company's goal to develop a "truly end-to-end music experience." The acquisition did not include the company's blog and advertising network, the MOG Music Network, which was sold in a separate transaction to the broadcasting company Townsquare Media in August 2012. MOG initially indicated that it would continue to operate independently with no immediate change in service. A few months later in December 2012,
5734-622: The original, master recordings of songs over other versions (such as covers). A feature known as "The Sentence" allowed users to generate playlists by filling four blanks in a sentence with words describing various activities, moods, and genres. The basic subscription plan allowed access to the service on three devices for US$ 9.99 per month, or US$ 99.99 per year. Along with a web-based interface, apps were available for Android , iOS , and Windows Phone . Sonos announced that Beats Music would also support its wireless speaker systems on launch. A family plan with support for up to 5 people and 10 devices
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#17327908924105828-534: The platform, and added premium original video content in an effort to compete with services such as Netflix . Concurrently, YouTube introduced YouTube Music , an app dedicated to music content on the platform. In 2016, Rhapsody was renamed Napster ; Rhapsody had acquired Napster in 2011. In 2017, Pandora launched a "Premium" tier, which features an on-demand service more in line with its competitors, while still leveraging its existing recommendation engine and manual curation. In October 2017, Microsoft announced
5922-624: 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. On April 21, 2020, Apple announced that Apple Music would be expanding to an additional 52 countries around the world bringing the total to 167 worldwide. In January 2016, Fortune reported that, six months after launching, Apple Music had reached 10 million paying subscribers, having spent six months reaching
6016-516: The price of its student plan, available for eligible college students, from $ 4.99 to $ 5.99 per month in the U.S. It represented the first price increase for any plan since Apple Music's launch in the country. Similar price increases also occurred to student plans in the U.K. and Canada at the same time. On October 24, 2022, Apple announced it was to increase pricing of standard Apple Music subscriptions (along with Apple TV+ and Apple One ) in many regions. The Individual plan increased $ 1 to $ 10.99/month,
6110-520: The report referenced a Twitter user describing Apple's efforts as "content marketing". 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. In January 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple
6204-416: The revenue from songs on their platform and send it back to record labels and management companies that own the rights to the songs. These companies then take another cut before sending it to the artists. However, in the past, there were ‘royalty models’ that would allow for artists to get a share of physical albums sold, but with the creation of streaming services, those models have now become obsolete. This
6298-590: 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 (just five weeks after the previous milestone ), 40 million in April 2018, 50 million as of May 2018, 56 million as of December 2018, and 60 million as of June 2019. Apple Music's biggest competition
6392-460: The service is heavily integrated into Apple's own in-house services such as their personal voice assistant Siri as well as their audio and video streaming protocol AirPlay . As of late 2019, users also have the ability to access the full version of Apple Music through an Apple-designed web player in beta. Apple Music's interface consists of five tabs: "Library", "Home" (Formerly: "Listen Now"), "Browse", "Radio", and "Search". The "Library" tab shows
6486-460: 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
6580-599: The service was discontinued. 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 February 2016, Music Business Worldwide reported that, with Apple Music having launched in Turkey and Taiwan in
6674-419: The service, thus allowing them to follow other users and see what music their followers are listening to. 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, accessible on the "Listen Now" tab. This feature tracks listening times down to the minute giving users accurate information on how much they may have listened to
6768-492: The service. On May 28, 2014, Apple Inc. announced it was buying both Beats Electronics and Beats Music for US $ 3 billion in a cash and stock deal. The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple had valued Beats Music at "slightly less than $ 500 million." Following the purchase, Dr. Dre and Iovine were hired as executive employees, and worked at Apple for years afterward; Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers would oversee both Beats Music and Apple's ad-supported iTunes Radio service. It
6862-542: 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
6956-422: The sister internet radio stations Apple Music 1 , Apple Music Hits, and Apple Music Country, which are broadcast live to over 200 countries 24 hours a day. The service was announced on June 8, 2015, and launched on June 30, 2015. New subscribers get a one-month free or six months free trial with the purchase of select products before the service requires a monthly subscription. Originally strictly
7050-455: The song they are listening to through the now playing card, which displays the song's lyrics live in sync with the time while it plays to the user. Each artist page includes a profile banner and a "Play" button which automatically creates a radio station based around the artist. Artist pages also include sections for their featured releases, albums, singles, top songs, and background information. Apple Music users can create their own profile on
7144-408: The statement that "Apple Music's redesign is a huge improvement over its previous incarnation, and a clear sign that Apple is listening to its customers". However, another Macworld editor, Oscar Raymundo, criticized the new design, writing that "Apple Music in iOS 10 is not as elegant or intuitive as Apple promised. The music service added more needless options, key actions like repeat got buried, and
7238-435: 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
7332-678: The user liked or disliked. The service's recommendation engine, the Music Genome Project , analyzes and determines songs based on various traits. Pandora initially operated within the royalty framework enforced by SoundExchange for internet radio in the United States, resulting in operational limitations: users could not choose individual songs to play on-demand, and could only skip a limited number of songs per-hour (although users could later receive more skips by watching video advertisements). Yahoo! acquired Launch Media and its LaunchCast internet radio platform in 2001 amid
7426-501: The user's music collection, with options to view songs by "Playlists", "Artists", "Albums", "Songs", or "Downloaded Music". Below these options, the tab also shows music recently added to the user's library. The "Home" tab recommends music for the user based on their music tastes. Human expert selections supplement the algorithmic curation, while users are able to "Like" and "Dislike" songs to further improve music suggestions. "Browse" shows new album releases from artists, playlists curated by
7520-414: The user's preference. The radio feature in Apple Music allows users to skip songs, view previously played songs on the station, as well as view songs playing next. The "Search" tab features a search box where users can search for artists, albums, Apple Music users, or songs by name or by lyrics. Below the search box, a list of recent user searches and overall trending searches on the service are shown. When
7614-402: The various human-curated radio stations and the accuracy of the curated playlists recommended to users in the "For Me" section. The author concluded saying "[The] For Me section alone has made me excited about music for the first time in a long time." Sam Machkovech of Ars Technica wrote that Apple's emphasis on unsigned artist participation in the Connect feature could be an effort to restore
7708-454: Was also available for $ 14.99 per month, exclusive to family plan subscribers on AT&T Mobility . AT&T subscribers were also able to access a longer free trial period. An advertisement for the service starring Ellen DeGeneres was aired during Super Bowl XLVIII in February 2014. Spoofing the fairy tale The Three Bears , the ad featured Ellen playing the role of Goldilocks. Music streaming service Streaming services saw
7802-643: Was also developed as an alternative metric for the consumption of albums, to account for digital music and streaming. It has also caused a cultural shift for consumers renting rather than buying music outright. Consumers moving away from traditional physical media towards streaming platforms attributed convenience, variety, and affordability as advantages. On the contrary, streaming has also been criticized by some artists for making them earn less from their music and artistry compared to physical formats, especially with pay-per-stream systems. Some critique that this system makes it so artists get paid as low as one-tenth of
7896-413: Was announced that Apple Music would be the exclusive home to Sean Combs 's documentary "Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A Bad Boy Story", which premiered June 25. On the same day, Bloomberg Businessweek reported that artist Will.i.am would make a reality show for Apple Music, in an effort to turn the service into a "one-stop shop for pop culture". The reality show was later revealed to be called Planet of
7990-547: Was exploring original video content, including its own television series and movies. A few days later, Apple Music executive Jimmy Iovine confirmed the reports about the move towards video, and in February, he announced that Apple Music would launch its first two television-style series in 2017, with the aim to turn Apple Music into a "cultural platform". In March, The Information reported that Apple had recently hired several people to help evolve its video platform, including YouTube product manager Shiva Rajaraman. In April, it
8084-636: Was immediately discontinued; users could migrate their Beats Music subscriptions, including their account, saved playlists, and songs, to Apple Music. Beats Music offered a library of over 20 million songs that could be streamed on-demand by users. Users could download songs for offline playback, which remained accessible for the period of their subscription. The service used a personalization system combining recommendations based on listening habits and algorithms with human curation and playlists from music professionals and publications such as Rolling Stone , Rap Radar , and Pitchfork . Song searches prioritized
8178-686: Was included in the Apple One bundle along with several other Apple services such as News, iCloud, Arcade, and TV Plus. On May 17, 2021, Apple announced that Apple Music would begin offering lossless audio via the ALAC codec in June 2021, along with music mixed in Dolby Atmos , all at no additional cost to Apple Music subscribers. In July 2021, the Android version of the app also received support for lossless and spatial audio with Dolby Atmos , though
8272-449: 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
8366-438: Was later reported by Business Insider that Apple was planning to merge the two services. Apple had hired noted British radio DJ Zane Lowe to serve as a music curator. It was also reported that, in negotiations with record labels for the new service, that Apple had been attempting to encourage record labels to pull their content from the free, ad-supported tiers of competing services such as Spotify in order to drive adoption of
8460-418: Was launched in the United States on January 21, 2014. Beats Music was acquired by Apple Inc. as part of its purchase of Beats Electronics in May 2014. Beats Music stopped accepting new subscriptions when Apple Music launched on June 30, 2015, and all subscribers were eventually moved to the new service. Beats Music was then discontinued on November 30, 2015. On July 2, 2012, Beats announced it had acquired
8554-500: 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
8648-411: Was revealed that Taylor Swift is the most streamed female artist in the platform's history as well as the female artist with most songs reaching Global Daily Top 100. It was also revealed that Midnights stands as the biggest album of all time by a female artist in the platform's history by first-day and first-week streams worldwide. On November 28, 2023, it was announced that in 2023, Taylor Swift
8742-403: Was shut down after copyright complaints by the local royalty agency SACEM . After reaching agreements with SACEM, the site subsequently relaunched as Deezer , which reached seven million users by the end of 2009. Also in 2006, MTV owner Viacom partnered with Microsoft on an online music platform known as Urge , which included a music store, music videos and online radio stations, and
8836-538: Was the most listened-to artist by Apple Music subscribers, simultaneously setting a new all-time record for the most listeners for any artist in a single year. Apple Music allows users to stream over 100 million songs to their device on demand. The service offers curated playlists by music experts and recommendations tailored to a users music preference. The service provides three live 24-hour radio stations: Apple Music 1 (previously branded as Beats 1), led by DJ Zane Lowe , Apple Music Hits, and Apple Music Country, which
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