APPLE OWNS APPLE MUSIC, AFTER FOUR ACQUISITIONS

Apple owns Apple Music. The service is a division of Apple Inc., not a separate company, and the pieces it was built from were bought: the streaming startup Lala in 2009, Beats Music in 2014, Shazam in 2018 and Primephonic in 2021. The deal that matters most is Beats, which Apple announced on May 28, 2014. Nobody nearly bought Apple Music, because it was never for sale. The near deal ran the other way, when Apple was reported to be shopping for Tidal in 2016.

$3 Billion Bought Two Companies on August 1, 2014

Apple agreed to buy Beats Music and Beats Electronics for a total of $3 billion, made up of about $2.6 billion in purchase price and about $400 million that would vest over time. Beats cofounders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre joined Apple as part of the deal.

Apple said the purchase closed on August 1, 2014, after European Union and US regulatory approval. Vivendi announced that day that it had sold its 13 percent stake in Beats Electronics to Apple for $404 million. Not every Beats employee moved over; Apple confirmed that week that some would not find a home at Apple.

Apple Music Launched June 30, 2015, and Beats Music Went Dark

Apple unveiled Apple Music at its developers conference on June 8, 2015, with Iovine presenting, and launched it on June 30, 2015. It cost $9.99 a month, or $14.99 for a family plan of up to six people, opened in 100 countries and skipped Android until later that year.

Beats Music was discontinued at the launch, and its subscribers could move their accounts, playlists and saved songs across. What Apple kept was the Beats name on a 24 hour radio station, Beats 1, which shipped inside the new app. Beats Music had offered a library of more than 20 million songs.

Lala Was Bought, Tidal Was Courted, Neither Stayed

Apple had tried this before. It bought the streaming startup Lala in December 2009 for a reported $85 million, after Google had tried to buy it first, and switched it off on May 31, 2010. Lala users who had bought songs received iTunes credit. Apple never explained the purchase, and its standard line is that it buys smaller technology companies from time to time and does not comment on its purpose or plans.

Tidal is the closest thing to a near miss. On June 30, 2016 the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was in exploratory talks to buy Tidal, the service Jay Z had bought from the Swedish company Aspiro for $56 million. The report said the talks might not result in a deal, and a Tidal spokesman said executives had held no talks with Apple. Apple never bought it. Square, now Block, announced a majority stake in Tidal for $297 million on March 4, 2021.

Shazam and Primephonic Filled In the Edges

The European Commission cleared Apple's purchase of Shazam in September 2018, finding the two services complementary and Shazam's data not unique. The deal fell below the automatic EU review threshold and reached Brussels only after Austria's regulator referred it. Apple never disclosed the price, which was reported at about $400 million.

Apple announced the Primephonic purchase on August 30, 2021, again at an undisclosed price, took the classical service offline on September 7 and gave its subscribers six months of Apple Music. Apple Music Classical launched as a standalone app on March 28, 2023, free to existing subscribers, with more than five million tracks at launch and lossless audio up to 192 kHz.

Sixty Million Is the Last Count Apple Gave

Apple last gave a subscriber count in June 2019, when Eddy Cue told the French outlet Numerama that Apple Music had passed 60 million. Apple's annual filings fold the service into Services net sales, a line that also covers digital content stores, other streaming services, AppleCare and licensing, so Apple Music's own revenue is not broken out.

Outside estimates fill the gap. A MIDiA Research estimate for the fourth quarter of 2025 puts Apple Music at 116.1 million subscribers, which is an estimate and not an Apple figure. Oliver Schusser has run the service since Apple promoted him in April 2018, when it had reached 40 million subscribers, and a Variety event listing for April 2026 gives his title as Vice President of Apple Music, TV, Sports, Podcasts and Beats.

Ownership Shows Up in the Programming

Owning the service means Apple can build around it in ways a licensed brand cannot. Apple Music Hall is a 600 person venue inside Battersea Power Station wired for at least 16 cameras and Spatial Audio recording on every performance. On May 15, 2026, Drake's 43 of the top 50 spots on the US Apple Music chart broke his own 2021 record of 21, and his FOMO film streamed live on Apple Music, YouTube and Spotify on September 15, with four songs reaching streaming on October 2, a story told in full on FOMO on Apple Music.

The platform exclusive is an older habit: Drake's 2016 Views rollout ran on Apple Music exclusivity. The brand also travels. Porsche's two factory 963 prototypes carried an Apple Music livery at Long Beach, the first Porsche and Apple cobranded race car since 1980, and Apple Music 1 launched Retro Sounds with Jordan Brand on July 15, 2026. Steven Victor's radio takeover and Stone Island's Miami Music Week set, streamed only on Apple Music Club Radio, follow the pattern. Apple has still not said how many people pay for any of it.