Apple Music

Before Apple Music, the company's iPod and iTunes were known for having "revolutionized digital music."[12] Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was known to be opposed to the idea of music subscription services.[13] When Apple bought audio equipment maker Beats Electronics in 2014, Apple gained ownership of Beats' own service Beats Music,[14] and made Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers responsible for the iTunes Radio service.[15] Business Insider later reported that Apple was planning to merge the two services. Apple also hired noted British radio DJ Zane Lowe to serve as a music curator.[16]

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,"[17] with the launch later in the month.[2] 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."[17]

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 three-month 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 three months".[18][19] UK independent record label Beggars Group also criticized the three-month trial period, saying it struggled "to see why rights owners and artists should bear this aspect of Apple's customer acquisition costs".[20][21]

The day after Swift's letter, Apple's 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 artist for streaming, even during customer's free trial period".[22][23][24] 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".[25]

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 U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into this alleged cartel in May 2015.[26][27]

The announcement happened as the signature "one more thing..." reveal at Apple's conference.[28] Hip hop artist Drake appeared onstage at the announcement event to elaborate on how he used the Connect platform, and Apple subsequently emphasized how "unsigned artists can share their music on Connect, too", in contrast to the iTunes Store, where small, independent artists were finding it difficult to participate.[28]

Apple Music availability map

Apple Music launched on June 30, 2015, in 100 countries. New users receive a three-month free trial subscription, which changes to a monthly fee after three months. A family plan allows six users to share a subscription at a reduced rate.[2] Apple originally sought to enter the market at a lower price point for the service, but the music industry rejected the plan.[12] 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.[28] 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.[29] Upon its launch, Beats Music subscriptions and playlists were migrated to Apple Music, and the service was discontinued.[30]

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,[31] but was expanded to an additional 25 countries in November 2016.[32]

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.[33] In August 2016, Apple Music was launched in Israel[34] and South Korea.[35]

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.[36]

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.[37] This customer base increased to 11 million subscribers in February,[38] 13 million in April,[39] 15 million in June,[40] 17 million in September,[41] 20 million in December,[42][43] 27 million in June 2017,[44] 36 million in February 2018,[45] 38 million in March 2018 (just five weeks after the previous milestone[46]), 40 million in April 2018,[47] 50 million as of May 2018,[48] 56 million as of December 2018,[49] and 60 million as of June 2019.[50][51]

By July 2018, Apple Music had surpassed Spotify in the number of paying users in the United States.[52]

In October 2015, Drake and Apple signed a deal to release the music video for “Hotline Bling” exclusively on Apple Music.[53] In December, Apple released an exclusive Taylor Swift tour documentary, called The 1989 World Tour Live, on Apple Music.[54] 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".[55] 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".[56]

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.[57] Apple's adaptation of the series was originally supposed to premiere in April 2017, but was delayed without explanation.[58][59] The series instead premiered on August 8, 2017.[60][61]

In January 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was exploring original video content, including its own television series and movies.[62] A few days later, Apple Music executive Jimmy Iovine confirmed the reports about the move towards video,[63] 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".[64] In March, The Information reported that Apple had recently hired several people to help evolve its video platform, including YouTube product manager Shiva Rajaraman.[65] In April, it 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.[66][67] 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".[68] The reality show was later revealed to be called Planet of the Apps, and will focus on the "app economy".[69][70] The series has cast 100 developers,[71] and premiered on June 6, 2017.[72][73]

In June 2017, Apple hired two television executives from Sony, specifically 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.[74][75][76] In early December 2017, Apple hired Michelle Lee, a programming veteran, as a creative executive of Apple's original video team,[77][78] and a few days later, also hired Philip Matthys and Jennifer Wang Grazier from Hulu and Legendary Entertainment, respectively.[79][80]

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 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.[81]

In November 2015, Apple launched the Android version of Apple Music, touted by reporters as Apple's first "real" or "user-centric" Android app.[82][83] The app was updated in April 2017 to match the service's iOS 10 design.[84][85]

Apple has added personalized music playlists to the service, with the September 2016 launch of “My New Music Mix”,[86] and the June 2017 launch of "My Chill Mix".[87][88]

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.[89]

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.[90]

On September 5, 2019, Apple released 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.[11]

On November 15, 2019, Apple released a new Apple Music feature called Apple Music Replay, which is a year-end playlist showing users their favorite tracks of the entire year, a feature similar to that of Spotify's called Spotify Wrapped.[8]

On November 20, 2019, Apple announced the Apple Music catalog now hosts over 60 million songs.[91]

On November 20, 2019, Apple introduced Apple Music for Business, offering customized playlists for partnered retailers.[92]

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 the labels including Taylor Swift, Lizzo and Adele.[93][94]

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[136] and songs, missing tracks, and synchronization problems.[137][138] Mashable wrote that "Apple has not yet publicly acknowledged the problem or responded to our request for comment".[137]

iCloud Music Library has also been reported to delete music from users' local storage,[139] though this has been disputed by other publications as caused by user error or another application.[140] Additionally, the feature was reported to have replaced uploaded content with a version locked with digital rights management.[139] In July 2016, Apple switched the matching technology to incorporate features identical to iTunes Match, specifically the use of "audio fingerprints" to scan sound data. The new technology also removed DRM from downloaded matched songs.[141][142]

In August 2016, Frank Ocean released Blonde exclusively on Apple Music. The decision was made by Ocean independently, without Def Jam Recordings, his former label, being a part of the deal. The exclusive deal reportedly "ignited a music streaming war".[143] The move followed in the footsteps of other artists, including Adele, Coldplay, Future, Drake, Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Kanye West, who released albums on exclusive terms with music streaming competitors of leading service Spotify. Jonathan Prince, Spotify's head of communications, told The Verge that "We’re not really in the business of paying for exclusives, because we think they're bad for artists and they're bad for fans. Artists want as many fans as possible to hear their music, and fans want to be able to hear whatever they're excited about or interested in — exclusives get in the way of that for both sides. Of course, we understand that short promotional exclusives are common and we don't have an absolute policy against them, but we definitely think the best practice for everybody is wide release".[144] Ocean's independent move to Apple Music exclusivity caused "a major fight in the music industry",[145] and Universal Music Group reportedly banned the practice of exclusive releases for its signed artists.[146] Soon after, several major record labels followed Universal, marking a significant change in the industry.[147] According to unnamed label executives, Spotify had also introduced a new policy that said that the service would not give the same level of promotion once an album arrives on Spotify after other services, including not being prominently featured in playlists.[148] Rolling Stone wrote in October 2016 that "if you wanted to keep up with new albums by Beyoncé, Drake, Frank Ocean, and Kanye West, among many others, you would have had to subscribe to not one but two streaming services", adding, "But over the past few months, a backlash has developed against this new reality".[149] Lady Gaga told Apple Music's Beats 1 radio, "I told my label that if they signed those contracts with Apple Music and Tidal, I'd leak all my own new music".[149]

In May 2017, Apple Music executive Jimmy Iovine told Music Business Worldwide, "We tried it. We'll still do some stuff with the occasional artist. The labels don't seem to like it and ultimately it's their content."[150][151]