A source familiar with Apple’s plans said the company is aiming to sign up 100 million subscribers for its Apple Music service, dwarfing all existing streaming music services combined, the Associated Press reports. Users of Beats Music will be migrated over before that service is shut down, and those purchasing songs or albums on iTunes will begin receiving an offer to subscribe to the $10/month streaming service instead. Apple will be flooding the online music scene to rack up those numbers, providing a three-month free trial of the paid service alongside a slew of guest DJs drawing users to its free iTunes Radio offering, including Pharrell Williams, Drake, Muse and David Guetta.
During an interview at the Midem music and technology festival, Sony Music CEO Doug Morris emphasized Apple’s unique position to dominate and revolutionize the streaming music market, Venture Beat notes. “What does Apple bring to this?” Morris said. “Well, they’ve got $178 billion dollars in the bank.
And they have 800 million credit cards in iTunes. Spotify has never really advertised because it’s never been profitable. My guess is that Apple will promote this like crazy and I think that will have a halo effect on the streaming business.”
.
