Local streaming services welcome Apple Music

After almost a year of drip-fed information, Apple’s Beats-powered streaming service, Apple Music has been unveiled.

Announced today at the tech giant’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco Apple Music makes the transition from its iTunes sales-driven model to subscription streaming and Australia’s local competitors are welcoming the impending launch.

In a statement issued toTMN, PandoraManaging Director ANZ Jane Huxley commented:“Apple’s investment in this category reinforces our long-held belief that there is healthy consumer demand for streaming music services.”

Huxley also highlighted Pandora’s freemium business model, saying it will “provide the best music listening and discovery experience for users across any and all devices.”

"Our Ad-supported model is delivering scale, which is fast allowing us to become powerful and essential promotional tool for expanding any music maker’s audience and delivering a fantastic experience to listeners.”

Colin Blake, RdioHead of Territory Australia & New Zealand told TMN thehealthy competition is a good thing for the music industry.

"The streaming category in Australia needs players willing to make big moves, market themselves and get Aussies signing up to the technology. Hopefully, for a paid service. I would far rather see a few big players working hard to sign people up and create value around streaming rather than multiple small players doing little but confusing consumers to make a choice."

Rdio CEO Anthony Bay said: “There is no doubt that Apple’s offering will further create healthy competition in the market, but it will also amplify awareness of streaming services among consumers, as people become aware of their music choices such as Rdio, whose singular focus is providing consumers with an insanely great music experience on every device they own regardless of who makes it."

Rdio also took to Instagram this morning to comment on Apple Music:

"Welcome, Apple. Seriously.
Welcome to the most exciting and important frontier since the digital music revolution began 16 years ago.
We look forward to responsible competition in the massive effort to make music available legally for anyone to enjoy anytime, anywhere.
Because what we are doing is increasing the value of music by enhancing each individual’s experience with music they love.
Welcome to the task."

The comment is a direct reference to anadvertisementthat Apple ran in 1981 after IBM announced its first PC.

Deezer CEO Hans-Holger Albrecht had this to say in his emailed statement: "Ultimately, consumers will decide which streaming service meets their needs best – the biggest brand might not necessarily offer the best fit for them, and the jury is out on Apple Music."

WhileSpotify Australia declined to comment,its CEO and Founder Daniel Ek posted the following to Twitter this morning, before removing it:

The big question left is will Australian consumers receive Apple Music through Telstra, as previously suggested.In Australia, the Beats-owned streaming service MOG, which was shut down in April 2014, is operated by Telstra. Telstra had been in discussions with Beats in the lead up to Apple’s acquisition of the service.TMNreached out to both Apple and Telstra to find outhow the launch of Apple Music will affect Telstra users, bothdeclined to comment.

Available in over 100 countries, trumping Spotify’s total of 58 and Rdio’s 85, Apple Music looks to take on the streaming market’s biggest competitors, featuring curated playlists, special collections curated by top artists, a live human-curated radio service and the ability to connect with artists via a portal which includes Facebook and Twitter.

Interestingly, Apple Music wasn’t launched today; instead it’s been given a June 30 launch date. On FridayTMNreported that Apple hadn’t finalised its licensing deals with record labels, this could still be the case. It will be made available on iOS (where it includes native integration with the music app), Mac, and Apple Watch and also available on Android phones and Windows PCs (where it won’t launch until later this year).

Its radio service was also confirmed. Beats1 offers 24-hour, live DJ radio lead by ex-BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe from LA, ex-VP of urban station WQHT Hot 97 Ebro Darden in New York and radio and TV presenter Julie Adenuga in London. Its launch also shows where iTunes Radio went; it’s buried inside Beats1 with non-paying users given access.While the human-curated Beats1 has plenty of competitors currently on the market, Spotify’s model does include algorithm based radio stations and recommendations, and boasts a large global editorial team that couples this technology with human curation.

Apple has revived its Ping service as Apple Music Connect, a feed where users can access music, photos, videos, and text posts. Connect mimics fans’ relationships with artists on Twitter and Facebook: “Through Connect, artists can share lyrics, backstage photos, videos or even release their latest song directly to fans directly from their iPhone,” said the press release. “Fans can comment on or like anything an artist has posted, and share it via Messages, Facebook, Twitter and email. And when you comment, the artist can respond directly to you.”

As previously reported, Apple is offering a three-month free trial, which it hopes will curb its biggest weakness: the fact it doesn’t offer a free ad-supported tier – 80% of Spotify’s paid subscribers came across from its free tier. Jay Z’s paid-subscription only streaming service Tidal hasn’t quite translated here in Australia, but that’s predominantly due to its hefty price tag, local users pay $23.99 per month for the lossless tier and $11.99 for users who aren’t a fan of lossless audio.

While local pricings will be announced closer to the June 30 launch, Apple Music is expected to match the $9.99 price tag of services including Spotify and Rdio. It’s also offering a US$14.99 family plan that allows up to six accounts. While arguablyits biggest competitor Spotify has been in the market for over seven years, Apple Music launches with a leg-up; Applehave800 millioncredit cardsin iTunes on file already, making the move to its streaming servive a quick update for iTunes users.