Unlike some other music streaming services such as Spotify which offers users a free tier, Apple Music does not have such an offering. Instead the best that Apple Music can do is offer users a free 3 month trial, after which users will have to start paying a monthly subscription fee if they wish to keep using the service.
However interestingly enough, it seems that the free 3 month trial is no longer being offered in some parts of the world. This includes Australia, Spain, and Switzerland, and according to each country’s Apple website, it has been noted that Apple will be charging these users for the free trial instead, although we suppose it isn’t really free anymore.
Users in those countries who have yet to sign up for Apple Music or take advantage of the service’s free trial will now have to pay a small fee of $0.99 in their local currency. Basically this gives users 3 months of access to Apple Music, but after which they’ll have to fork out the full subscription fee to keep using the service.
We’re not sure what prompted Apple to make the change, but given that Apple has agreed to pay artists for songs streamed during the free trial period, presumably this small fee will help to offset some of those costs. So far only three of those countries are affected by this and we’re not sure if there are plans to eventually apply this to other parts of the world.
Filed in . Read more about Apple Music and Music.