When Apple launches its Apple Music streaming service at the end of June, it will affect things big and small in the music industry.
Hundreds of millions of iPhone and iPad users in more than 100 countries will get to try the $10-per-month service for free for the next three months when it is pushed to their devices with a free upgrade.
They’ll get unlimited access to tens of millions of songs during the trial, and afterward be required to pay a monthly fee for access, instead of paying for each album or song download.
“It’ll change the way you experience music forever,” CEO Tim Cook promised Monday at Apple’s annual conference for software developers, held in San Francisco.
It could become one more thing that keeps iPhone and iPad users inside the Apple Inc. ecosystem, while enticing others in.
Here’s a look at some of the major aspects of Apple Music.
SIRI Integration
Subscribers will be able to ask Siri, Apple’s mobile digital assistant, all sorts of unusual questions about music, and have any of millions of tunes play back in response.
Executive Eddy Cue demonstrated a few of them Monday, including asking for a playlist of the top 10 hits in the alternative genre, asking for a song from the soundtrack of the movie “Selma,” and even asking for the top song from May 1982. (It was Joan Jett & the Blackhearts’ “I Love Rock ‘n Roll.”)
Using Siri’s artificial intelligence and one’s voice could come in handy when working out, going on a jog or driving a car equipped with Apple CarPlay.
Real Radio
In modern times, Internet radio has been defined by automated playlist generators like Pandora, Songza and others. Apple is changing that game by bringing back living, breathing DJs. It plans to run “Beats 1,” a live 24/7 radio station hosted by DJs — including former BBC host Zane Lowe — in Los Angeles, New York and London. The service will be free to users with an Apple ID.
It will also offer standard genre-based Internet radio stations, this time with playlists curated by humans, instead of the algorithms that power the soon-to-be-disappearing feature, iTunes Radio.
iTunes Downloads?
Apple device users who have bought songs or albums on iTunes needn’t worry. Their music will still be on their devices, and in many cases, still saved to the cloud.
Music that isn’t available for streaming but still for sale on iTunes, like songs from the Beatles, can be integrated into playlists. Subscription music can be saved for offline listening alongside downloads.
And the some 300,000 subscribers to Beats Music, which Apple bought along with the headphone line for $3 billion last year, will have the opportunity to transfer their playlists over to Apple Music, at which point, their Beats subscription will be canceled.
Music For You
Apple touts its human curation so much, it’s making you pay for it. A new “For You” tab will offer subscribers music suggestions based on artists and genres they say they like, as well as what they actually listen to. A team of music experts is said to be behind every pick. This feature is a nearly direct import from Beats Music.
“These people are going to help you with the most difficult question in music: What song comes next?” said Apple executive Jimmy Iovine, who helped develop the service.
Technology writer Anick Jesdanun in San Francisco contributed to this story.
