Amazon has recently launched a campaign to challenge Apple Music with the release of its own range of music services. In tandem with the ever-increasing competition in the music streaming market, Apple is hard-pressed to fight back.
Now, the tech company is reportedly mulling a massive price drop to its Apple Music service. Reports indicate that this could amount to as much as 20 percent, which should place the basic monthly Apple Music fee below $8. The $15 family package could also get slashed by $2, while the student rate stays at $5.
The rumor was first published by Digital Music News, which attributed the information to two sources who are privy to the alleged move. The report stressed that these sources are not employees at Cupertino but were merely working with the Apple Music service since the very first day it rolled out. They also underscored how everything is still being threshed out, so there is a possibility that the price-drop might not see the light of day.
It is not clear whether the new pricing scheme is permanent or merely a temporary promotional strategy aimed to snag more subscribers this holiday season. Whatever the case is, the reduced prices will also work with the three-month trial period. So it is expected that those who will avail of the new pricing scheme before Christmas will probably enjoy the slashed prices when their package kicks in.
Apple is also said to be baking other promotional discounts to complement the price reduction. For example, the company seems bent on offering discounts if a subscriber will upgrade his plan, say, from the regular rate to family rate.
Existing subscribers, however, could end up grumbling about this looming change. This is because Apple is not willing to offer back-payments. The best that the company can do, according to Digital Music News, is to ensure that their transition to the lowered rate is as painless as possible.
Apple has not confirmed any Apple Music price drop yet, but the news makes sense especially when Amazon is offering an unlimited music service subscription for $7.99, among other perks for its Prime subscribers. The company is also offering $3.99 package for Amazon Echo owners and is even bundling an insane free music service option for Prime subscribers, although this is only aimed at the more casual music listeners.
Industry observers can also recall that Digital Music News has leaked Apple's plan to end the iTunes Music downloads and, subsequently, all music downloads in the future.
