Apple Music quietly slashes free trial in Australia to one month

Apple Music has quietly cut its free trial to first-time subscribers in Australia to just one month.

It had been offering a generous three months since launching in June 2015.

But its pricing remains the same: $11.99 a month for regular, $14.99 for family, $5.99 for students and $4.99 for Apple Music Voice.

The shorter period also applies to the US, UK, Canada, Japan, and other countries.

Australian customers still get six months free when they buy eligible audio products such as HomePod, AirPods or Beats headphones.

“You have 90 days after first pairing your device to take advantage of your six free months of Apple Music,” the company advised.

Current users of eligible devices also have 90 days after upgrading to the latest iOS or iPadOS to redeem their free six months.

The trial still offers would-be customers ad-free streaming of 50 million songs, access to lossless, spatial and Dolby Atmos, downloading up to 100,000 songs to their devices to listen to offline, the Beats 1 radio show, and the ability to follow friends and share playlists.

Major rival Spotify offers a one-month trial for its premium tier but in some territories offers a three-month free trial to first-timers who sign up through PayPal.

Apple watcher 9to5 Mac admitted it was “perplexed”  by the move, given that Apple has long maintained that its three months helped set it apart from the competition.

But it did concede that anyone who would have been tempted by the three-month trial already had almost seven years to take advantage of it.

“Additionally, there is believed to be a least some amount of exodus from Spotify to Apple Music right now, depending on who you talk to,” it reported.

“Apple could be trying to convert those people switching from Spotify to Apple Music into paying subscribers as quickly as possible.”

In a MIDiA report published in January 2022, Spotify was the undeniable global music streaming leader in Q2 2021.

It had a market share of 31%, compared to Apple Music’s 15%.

Amazon Music and Tencent Music were at joint third place with 13% each, and Google’s YouTube Music at 8%.

While Spotify Premium subscribers grew 16% year-on-year to 180 million in Q4, the MIDiA report also substantiated the exodus from Spotify.

It pointed out that its market share had been 33% in Q2 2020 and 34% in Q2 2019.

There are currently 523.9 million music subscribers in the world, a 26.4% year-over-year growth in 2021 from the previous year.