like the United States and the United Kingdom
suggests a free version would benefit the
company around the world. Indeed, Spotify has
286 million monthly active users, and less than
half of them (130 million) are Spotify Premium
subscribers. The latest official count revealed
Apple Music had 60 million paid subscribers,
and so adding a free version of Apple Music
could see the company reach 150 million users.
By introducing a free tier, Apple would not only
encourage music fans to flock to the service
ahead of rivals, but it could use the free tier
as a way to promote its HomePod and new
HomePod mini, boosting its market share in the
competitive smart speaker market. And that is
without mentioning the value it would bring to
AirPods, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max. With a
few advertisements between songs (boosting
Apple’s ad revenue business), the firm could
speak to a whole new audience of young, price-
conscious consumers who want to use Apple
but don’t have the resources to do so. In offering
a free version, Apple would not necessarily
chase Spotify’s users - it’d chase music lovers
who want a first-class platform to access their
favourite material. And as services become
increasingly important to the firm, now could
certainly be the time to consider Apple Music
Free, building its market dominance.
The growth of Apple Music in recent years
demonstrates the viability of the firm’s push into
services. Though TV+, News+ and Arcade might
not be breaking records just yet, they could soon
help Apple evolve into new product categories
and further build its name as the world’s most
powerful brand. Keeping a close eye on Music,
it’s hard to “mute” Apple’s success.