Former Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers, who now works as Senior Director of Apple Music, announces on a blog post that the new iOS 8.4 will be rolled out June 30 together with the debut of the Apple Music streaming service and the first day of broadcasting of Apple's 24/7 streaming radio station Beats 1 led by Zane Lowe.
Rogers advises that Apple users should update their devices at 8 a.m. PT, which is two hours earlier than the usual 10 a.m. release, in line with Lowe's live radio show at 9 a.m. PT.
@maurocorvino Update your phone at 8am. Zane's show starts at 9am PT.
— ian c rogers (@iancr) June 28, 2015
Beats 1's scheduled programming slate will feature an interview with Eminem by Lowe as well as a series of shows from hosts Dr. Dre, Drake, Elton John and Pharrell Williams, who will launch his new single exclusively on Apple Music. Apple's Eddy Cue, senior vice president of Internet software and services, explains that Apple Music on the iOS 8.4 will share the features of iTunes Match and the company plans to boost the current track library limit from 25,000 songs to 100,000 songs with the launching of iOS 9. For developers on iOS 9 beta, a new update will be seeded to support Apple Music.
@lokithorrrrr a new iOS 9 seed will support Apple Music — Eddy Cue (@cue) June 27, 2015
With over 30 million songs under the full Apple Music catalog, Apple offers a free three-month trial for subscribers to test the new streaming service. For a single user, an Apple Music subscription will cost $9.99 every month while for a family of up to six individuals, it will cost $14.99 per month.
Beats 1 is free for all users signed in with an Apple ID.
With both Music apps, Apple enters the competition with Spotify, Rhapsody and Rdio in offering on demand music and millions of songs customized to listeners' personal preferences. The company is shifting its efforts to seize a part of the growing online music market. Global digital music's revenue dramatically increased 6.9 percent to $6.85 billion in 2014, with the revenue from music subscription services growing 39 percent to $1.57 billion, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a worldwide trade group for the music business. IFPI reports physical album sales and download music sales have dropped 8 percent last year.
Photo: Anita Hart | Flickr
