Apple Music inks deal with British telco

Apple Music has signed a deal with Britain’s largest mobile phone network in its latest shoot-out with Spotify.

EE, which has 27 million consumers will offer its music subscription service free for six months from September 1.

According to EE CEO Marc Allera, streaming on EE has risen 41% in the past three years.

“If people spend 60 to 90 minutes commuting they stream more video and music then than at any other time,” he said. Spotify will still be available on EE but Apple Music will be the “main pillar” of its music strategy.

Ads promoting the offer will feature Britney Spears and actor Kevin Bacon.

Spears is also a headliner of the Apple Music Festival in London (September 18-30) alongside Elton John and Robbie Williams. Other performers include Calvin Harris, The 1975, Alicia Keys, OneRepublic, Bastille, Michael Bublé and Chance The Rapper. Fans can only stream the shows with a Apple Music subscription.

A monthly subscription on EE is £9.99 (A$17.35). If customers decide to pay for Apple Music after the trial, it would reduce the gap between Apple Music’s 15 million subscribers and Spotify’s 39 million. At the same time, it would intensify EE customers’ loyalty towards the network. Details of the detail, as to what percentage share, if any, EE would get from Apple Music, is not known.

The Silicon Valley giant has already gone into partnership with Telstra in Australia (where customers get unlimited streaming, while EE customers streaming comes off their data allowance) and rumoured to have finalised a deal with Deutsche Telekom in Germany late last week.

A quarter of all digital music subscriptions come from tie-ups with telco deals.

Swedish-based Spotify’s deal with Vodafone in 2013 is said to have been responsible for its subscriber jump of 42% that year. Vodafone customers upgrading to 4G get the option of free Spotify, Sky Sports or Netflix as part of their package. Most, apparently, opt for Spotify.