It’s tough being in the digital music streaming business. Beats Music launched in January to take on a host of similar services, from the well-established Spotify to offerings from hardware manufacturers like Samsung. After working through service issues and attracting a modest number of subscribers, Beats Music has now decided to bite the bullet and accept in-app subscription sign-ups on iOS.
It means users can now sign up for a premium Beats Music subscription from their iOS device, something that wasn’t previously possible — it would appear that the powers-that-be behind the service think that giving Apple 30 percent of every subscription fee is worth the chance to pull in more paying users. Beats Music charges the standard $10 per month for premium features, and according to industry analysts needs to attract around 5 million subscribers to become profitable.
Beats Music is also sweetening the deal that free users get. The shuffled radio streaming option known as ‘The Sentence’ is getting thousands of new songs, which should be enough to boost the numbers of people trying out the service as well as those paying cold hard cash for it. Other improvements include a new section for artists to promote their music and merchandise and offline playback features for paying customers. An iPad version is also said to be in the works.
Despite facing stiff competition, there’s a lot to like about Beats Music — in our full review of the service, we praised its personalization options, instant mixes and extensive music library. Its developers will be hoping that the new features are enough to bring a new wave of users on board.
