Apple Music: Will It Destroy Paid Music Services?

It’s not uncommon for Apple to create a product or service that blows the competition out of the water, and Apple Music is no different. Launched at the end of last month, Apple Music can best be compared to a servicelike Spotify where users pay a monthly fee and get access to a wide variety of tracks – 30 million of them to be exact.

What makes Apple Music stand out above the crowd is that it’s highly customized to the user. As soon as you start to use it, you share your favorite bands, musicians, and styles, and Apple Music will give you suggestions. Keep in mind, this is all about the human touch too.

Incorporated into Apple Music is Apple Connect, where fans will get access to the latest updates from their favorite musicians. It’s sort of like all the best social media all rolled into one, where artists can uploadvideos, share never before heard tracks and more.

Furthermore, another unique aspect of Apple Music is that they have a family plan that costs $14.99 and can cover six people in a family.

The whole service got off to a bit of a rocky start from a marketing standpoint. They are offering a free three-month trial to anyone who signs up for the service, but initially they said they were not going to pay artists royalties for the songs people were streaming during that free three month trial.

Interestingly enough, after a particularly powerful blog post from Taylor Swift who put pressure on Apple to compensate artists during this trial, saying, “We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation,” Apple reversed their decision.

Other than that potential marketing nightmare of possibility alienating top artists, Apple Music has gone off without a hitch. Fans are particularly enjoying their integration with Beats 1, which means that people who subscribe to Apple music not only have their incredible music selection and Apple Connect but they also have access to a wide range of radio shows too.

For these reasons and all these unique partnerships and features, many are saying that Apple will come out on top of the music streaming competition in the future.

This is great news for investors because as Apple grows and dabbles in new income streams like paid music streaming, their strength as a company only grows. Investors should also note that Apple Music is in no way taking away from iTunes. My guess is that people who purchase their music on iTunes will continue to do so in order to have access to their tracks for years to come. Many Apple fans might even use the services concurrently.

The battle won’t be without its fair share of issues though. Spotify has already complained that the cost of their app is more expensive through the app store. However, I’m very interested to see just how well Apple Music will do, especially after their free trial is over with.