Apple Music further battles Spotify, expands student subscriptions to 82 new regions

The major music streaming services are in a battle to increase subscription figures.

This comes at a time with speculation that the landscape could change in the United States, with Apple Music tipped to overtake Spotify subscription levels by mid-2018.

As reported by TMN this morning, YouTube’s Red is also on the expansion route.

Meantime, Apple is also introducing moves to increase figures globally.

It is expanding its flat 50%-off student subscription offer to 82 new regions. The first three kick in on February 28.

These include Israel, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, and Taiwan, bringing the total close to 120.

Australia was among the first to get the offer in 2015, a few months after it launched, along with the US, UK and Germany.

The deal is for up to 48 months (or four years) to anyone attending a degree-granting university or college.

Their eligibility will be determined by Apple co-partner, UNiDAYS, which verifies if the student is enrolled in a university or not.

The 48 months does not have to be at one stretch, which means Apple works around those who want to take a gap year off.

As reported last month in TMN, Apple Music’s subscription rate is growing at 5% a month in the US, compared to Spotify’s 2%.

This is not the sort of publicity that Spotify needs just ahead of its direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

The upcoming February 28 move by Apple is to tackle the reality that Spotify has over 70 million subscribers globally, with Apple Music trailing at 36 million in in 115 countries,

In addition to its 45 million song catalogue, Apple Music could also increase its global appeal when it unveils its strategy for popular song-recognition app-maker Shazam which it acquired for US$400 million in December 2017.

Spotify which also offers student subs recently announced one of its most generous giveaways with free two month Premium access to new US customers.

In January among its predictions for 2018, TMN expected that the average monthly subscription rate would by commonplace shrink by the end of the year to $4.99 from $9.99.

Indications are that the major streaming companies are already on that path.