Apple has contacted users to inform them that the free, ad-supported version of iTunes Radio will be eliminated at the end of the month.
iTunes Radio will no only be available with an Apple Music subscription, though Beats 1 radio will still be available for free. It’s not clear whether iTunes Match subscribers will still have access to free iTunes Radio; this was one of the perks of using iTunes Match in the past.
It’s worth noting that record labels get a mere pittance from iTunes Radio plays, so eliminating the ad-supported radio won’t bother them very much.
This change makes sense, since Apple is striving to eliminate all types of free streaming, unlike other services such as Spotify. It’s obvious that people will listen to music for free if they can, and Apple wants to increase the number of paying subscribers to Apple Music. But since most people simply don’t want to pay for music, it will be interesting to see if those who were regular iTunes Radio listeners gravitate toward Spotify or another service for their music.
…or gravitate to Pandora where available.
Indeed. But this is only an option in the US and Canada, correct?
As far as I know. I’ve always thought of iTunes Radio as Apple’s imitation of Pandora.
With the option of “seeding” a station by selecting a song, artist, album, etc. For a while, they had a number of good classical stations by composer, but they got rid of those when Apple Music was released.
…or gravitate to Pandora where available.
Indeed. But this is only an option in the US and Canada, correct?
As far as I know. I’ve always thought of iTunes Radio as Apple’s imitation of Pandora.
With the option of “seeding” a station by selecting a song, artist, album, etc. For a while, they had a number of good classical stations by composer, but they got rid of those when Apple Music was released.
It’s not only an attempt by Apple to eliminate all forms of free streaming. Apple has begun to realize that both managing ad sales and ad-supported services is not one of its core competencies. iAd is going away as well.
Yes, that’s a good point. But they could have farmed out the ad sales to another company.
It’s not only an attempt by Apple to eliminate all forms of free streaming. Apple has begun to realize that both managing ad sales and ad-supported services is not one of its core competencies. iAd is going away as well.
Yes, that’s a good point. But they could have farmed out the ad sales to another company.
In Japan iTunes radio was never free. IIRC at the time that was explained as a the result of a (lack of) agreement with the local music mafia (major labels, distributors etc). So basically Apple has now propagated that model world wide ?
I kinda see that as a positive! It removes a reason to track the user (which is the only reason for the existence of advertisement…).
In Japan iTunes radio was never free. IIRC at the time that was explained as a the result of a (lack of) agreement with the local music mafia (major labels, distributors etc). So basically Apple has now propagated that model world wide ?
I kinda see that as a positive! It removes a reason to track the user (which is the only reason for the existence of advertisement…).