There were many new things announced yesterday, but Apple Music was, without any doubt, the star of the show. The new music streaming service was much rumored and much awaited, as Apple’s iTunes paid downloads are no longer as popular as they once were.
To make its new Apple Music service a reality, the Cupertino-based company has resorted to some well-connected individuals in the industry, such as Jimmy Iovine, Dr.Dre, and others. And to prove that it really means business with Apple Music and it wants it to be a universal service even for cross-platform users, the company announced that it will be bringing it to Android users this fall.
Naturally, when Apple announced its new service yesterday, or most likely well before, music streaming services like Spotify, Rdio, Pandora, and others were already of ways to prevent its current users from switching to Apple Music. And one of the first reactions seems to be coming from Spotify, which is still one of the leading companies in the music streaming market.
Apple comes with a family plan for its Apple Music service that can be shared by up to six people for $14.99. By comparison, Spotify and Rdio also offer family plans, but right now, they are more expensive, charging two users $14.99 and $29.99 for five. Apple’s offer is much better, but it seems that Spotify could be looking to match its offer. Speaking to TheVerge, Jonathan Price, Spotify’s global head of communications and public policy, said the following:
We already have similar family pricing in some markets, and we expect to offer competitive pricing everywhere in the near future
Price said that Spotify already charges roughly $20 a month for a family of five in Sweden. It’s worth pointing out that after Apple revealed its music streaming service, Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek, tweeted a two-word reaction saying only “Oh ok.” So we could understand from this that they aren’t that frightened by Apple’s new service. It will be interesting to watch what will be the reaction of other similar services and how the audience will feel toward Apple Music.
Also Read: What to Do if Spotify Keeps Crashing or Closing Itself