Given Apple's monopoly on the 'media player' aspect of the music business with iTunes, a streaming service was always going to happen - and last night, the rumours of their new service were confirmed.
Apple Music is the company's new music streaming service that aims to go head-to-head with the likes of Spotify, Pandora et al and was announced by Apple CEO Tim Cook during his keynote speech the company's WWDC (Worldwide Developers' Conference).
Record producer Jimmy Iovine was also involved in the presentation, as was Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and rapper Drake. As expected, Zane Lowe is to head up the Los Angeles branch of their first worldwide radio station, which will be broadcast 24/7 and is called Beats 1. Ebro Darden will anchor the station in New York, and Julie Adenuga will do the same in London.
Initial features of Apple Music include being able to stream songs on iTunes on demand, tailored recommendations and playlists to your taste and specifications, and Siri, the voice-activated feature on iPhones, being integrated into the service.
There will also be a platform called 'Connect' that facilitates fan-artist relationships and allows both well-known and unsigned artists to upload videos, remixes, photos or anything else related to their process.
The service launches on June 30th and will cost $9.99 a month (Irish price TBC) - with those who sign up getting the first three months of membership free. It's available on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC, Apple TV and Android phones.
Below, you'll see a couple of charts that give a quick rundown on the comparisons between Apple Music and other streaming services.
