Upcoming 'Apple Music' Streaming Service to Include Three-Month Free Trial

beats_screenshotAhead of the introduction of Apple's new streaming music platform, Financial Times has shared some key details about the service, confirming it will be called simply "Apple Music." With the launch of the service, Apple will be largely abandoning its iTunes branding, using the name only for the online store.

As has been previously shared, Apple will not be offering a freemium ad-supported listening tier like Spotify, and will charge $9.99 per month for the service. Apple plans to draw customers in by offering a three-month free trial, much longer than the 30 days competing services offer.

Apple's new music service is built upon Beats Music, its existing subscription service that it acquired last year. Apple executives heavily lauded Beats Music's emphasis on human curation and customization, with many of the features in Beats Music remaining in the new streaming service. For example, the new music service will continue to ask users to select favorite musical genres and styles, and paired with recommendations from artists, Apple hopes to help listeners discover songs.

Apple's iTunes Radio is also being revamped and potentially renamed, as it is being positioned as a free companion service to Apple's streaming music offering. We have previously heard that Apple's new version of iTunes Radio will be aimed primarily at users who are not in the United States, serving as a gateway service to entice people to pay for music.

Apple plans to use well-known DJs and celebrities to present music on its new radio service, and has hired several BBC Radio DJs like Zane Lowe to market the service in Europe.

Some of the celebrities who were photographed wearing Apple Watches ahead of its launch earlier this year, such as rapper Drake, will soon be acting as DJs on Apple's new radio service, which will emphasise the personal tastes of artists over using algorithms to curate music, as Pandora does.

Apple plans to unveil its new music service at its WWDC keynote, taking place on Monday. The new streaming service and the new radio service will both be built into the revamped Music app introduced in iOS 8.4.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Monday June 30, 2025 1:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are less than three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max in September this year. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an...
Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adds a Useful New Wi-Fi Feature to Your iPhone

Wednesday July 2, 2025 6:36 am PDT by
iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 add a smaller yet useful Wi-Fi feature to iPhones and iPads. As spotted by Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach, sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. For example, while Weinbach was staying at a Hilton hotel, his iPhone prompted him to fill in Wi-Fi details from his iPad that was already...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
iOS 18

Apple Releases Second iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Tuesday July 1, 2025 10:19 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a day after Apple provided the betas to developers. Apple has also released a second beta of macOS Sequoia 15.6. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible...
maxresdefault

New MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Spotted in Apple Code

Monday June 30, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
Apple is developing a MacBook with the A18 Pro chip, according to findings in backend code uncovered by MacRumors. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Earlier today, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip. The machine is expected to feature a 13-inch display, the A18 Pro chip, and color options...

Top Rated Comments

OllyW Avatar
132 months ago
We have previously heard that Apple's new version of iTunes Radio will be aimed primarily at users who are not in the United States...
Is hell about to freeze over? :D
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HobeSoundDarryl Avatar
132 months ago
I hope this is a terrific service. 90 days free trial is impressive. However, I would think Apple will dominate the space quickly simply by embedding it into iOS... much like how Maps became the dominate mapping app on iOS by Apple deciding it shall be the default. No faulting 3 months to try it out... just saying it seems like they would get huge share by simply doing the Internet Explorer thing vs. Netscape (make it the default with the OS). For those so hungry for this, I hope you like it!
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
The Doctor11 Avatar
132 months ago
Nice! I'll take it!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MikeyCopeland Avatar
132 months ago
With the launch of the service, Apple will be largely abandoning its iTunes branding, using the name only for the online store.
Does this mean iTunes will also be renamed / replaced in OS X 10.11???
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Black Belt Avatar
132 months ago
Beats looks like Microsoft Zune software.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Godzilla71 Avatar
132 months ago
Very cool! Plenty of time to really test drive the new service. :)
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)