Apple Music has reduced its prices by almost half of the original price and increased its trial period by double the initial period in Kenya.
The subscription-based music streaming service offers access to over 50-million songs. Initially, individual users would have to pay about KES 1,066 ($9.99), however, this is about to change.
According to Apple, the new prices will be as follows:
- Individuals will now pay KES 319.17 ($2.99)
- Family package, with up to six members, will cost KES 532.66 ($4.99)
- University Students in Kenya will now pay KES 159.05 ($1.49)
What isn’t clear from the price reduction is whether or not the library of content has also been slashed. It is yet not known whether or not users will have the amount of music available to them also decrease with the price cut.
In Kenya, the music streaming platforms that are available include Boomplay, Deezer, Mdundo, Apple Music, Playfre and a couple of others. Tech Ish writes that with Spotify yet to be available in this region, and sadly by the time they start considering Africa, Apple Music will have eaten up a big share of the market.
A particular advantage of Apple’s move is that all other music streaming platforms will rush to counter their pricing. A con is that this could hurt recording artists. However, if record labels can find ways to sign better contracts on sharing of revenue, then things may work out well for everyone in the end.
Does one get a refund for all the months paid with the reduced prices? @AppleMusic @AppleSupport pic.twitter.com/HL3dPYmpyg
— Dickson Otieno (@DicksonOtieno) May 31, 2020
Change in Apple Music trial period
Gadgets Africa reports that, initially, Apple would be charging almost double the above prices, and give users a three-month free trial period on a refundable fee of about KES 100 ($0.94) if users were unhappy with the service.
Now, the company has reduced the prices and will give users a six months free trial period. That means prudent users can effectively get the service for free for the rest of the year.
Edited by Luis Monzon
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