Apple Music Streaming Service launched, Beats 1 to be its first radio station

Apple had revolutionized digital music with its iTunes and iPods, providing stiff competition to the CD industry. Now the company is joining the new age of subscription music by jumping into the music streaming bandwagon. Apple announced Apple Music, its music-streaming app, at the WWDC with the tagline, “All the Ways You Love Music. All in One Place.”  Music downloads, streaming music and radio have all been combined into a single app.

Apple’s new music streaming service will take on existing providers like Spotify with ambitious plans to get at least 100 million global subscribers. Currently, Spotify dominates the market with more than 60 million users of which about 15 million are paid subscribers.

Apple will transfer users of the existing Beats Music streaming service over to Apple music service. Also, when you are buying albums or songs from iTunes, you will get an option to subscribe to the Apple Music streaming service. The existing iTunes radio has been rebuilt to a live radio station and the company has roped in well known music artists such as Zane Lowe, Dr. Dre, Pharrell, will.i.am, Drake, Muse and David Guetta as DJs.

Apple’s first radio station will be Beats 1 and it will be broadcast in more than 100 countries 24×7. The creative minds behind the Beats 1 radio are Zane Lowe, Ebro Darden and Julie Adenuga. Check out the video ad below:

As the earlier leaks suggested, the music app has been totally revamped. A mini player is constantly present at the bottom of the screen showing you what is playing at the time but you can remove it with a swipe if you don’t want it. There is new album artwork which can also be swiped away. It also has a For You section, which shows curated suggestions after the app has learnt about your music tastes.

There will be thousands of HD quality music videos, which you can run directly from there. There will also be a feature called Connect in the new app that allows artists to have a social network page where they will be able to upload music, photos, videos, messages and status updates. This page can be shared with their fans.

As for charges, the Apple Music streaming service will cost $9.99 a month as was rumored earlier. A family plan for up to 6 members will cost $14.99 but for this, you must have iCloud family sharing to be active. However, you can listen to Beats 1 radio, follow your favorite artists on Connect or tune in to ad-supported stations even if you don’t have a subscription.

Apple Music Streaming Service launched, Beats 1 to be its first radio station