Apple Music's origins start on one of the waning days of May 2014. It was May 28 of that year, to be precise, when Apple announced the acquisition that remains the largest in company history, based on the dollar cost of the transaction.
Apple's purchase of Beats Audio in 2014 remains the largest transaction in company history
Apple had acquired Beats Audio for $3 billion. The purchase gave Apple the Beats line of headphones, a business that Apple could surely improve. But the main impetus of the deal was Beats Music, an app and website offering streaming music.
But Beats Music was not exactly signing up subscribers in volume as only 111,000 users were signed up in March 2014. Apple turned Beats Music into Apple Music, and it debuted with the release of iOS 8.4 on June 30, 2015.
Apple Music has as many as 108 million subscribers worldwide giving it a global market share of 12% to 15%
While Apple doesn't report exact subscription numbers for Apple Music, worldwide estimates have 100 million to 108 million subscribers listening to the streamer globally. That gives it 12% to 15% of the global paid music streaming marketplace behind Spotify and Tencent Music.
In the US, Apple Music has 30 million to 40 million subscribers. That puts Apple Music second in the States with a 30.7% share of the paid music streaming market, looking up at Spotify.
The new Apple Music app icon is on the left with the previous app icon on the right. | Image by MacRumors
There is a new logo for Apple Music and a new app icon is also on the way
Earlier today, in a YouTube video, Apple changed the look of the Apple Music logo. The size of the apple at the beginning of the logo is smaller and the "Music" is now written using lower case letters. The font is thicker and the space between the letters has been reduced.
Apple also changed the Apple Music app icon. The white musical note against a red background, as colorful as it was, has been replaced with the latest iOS 27.2 beta. Now, the app icon shows a black musical note against a white background.
This is when you should expect Apple to roll out the new Apple Music logo and app icons
Apple will include the changes with the stable version of iOS 27.2 and macOS 27.2, both expected to be released next week.
Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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