Android Apple Music beta hints at alternate tiers, skip limits

The Android client for Apple Music has hinted at new subscription tiers, opening the possibility for a cheaper plan with some added restrictions. It won’t be free.

Since its conception, Apple Music has provided the same general level of service to all users regardless of their actual subscription plan. Sure, you can get it as an Individual, Family, Student, or Apple One subscription, but you get the same service across the board.

However, code strings spotted by Aaron Perris on X hints that change is on the horizon. The developer beta for Apple Music on Android includes a few specific lines that don’t apply to the current service at all.

One line is an error message stating “Premium access required.” The other error message about reaching a “skip limit,” displaying the message “Can’t skip any more tracks” to the user.

These messages are interesting, but cannot possibly work for the way Apple Music currently operates.

Radio station skips and tier talk

Apple currently doesn’t have a “premium” tier at all. Nor does it have any tiers providing a limited service to users at a cheaper price.

There is the 30-day free trial, but that doesn’t really count at all, as you still get the full service.

A plausible explanation from Perris is that it could be for something unrelated, such as radio stations. However, this is doubtful to work with Apple’s current radio stations at all.

An alternative idea would be something similar to Spotify’s playlists, where free users have a limited number of skips in some cases.

It is plausible for Apple to introduce a skip system for programmatic radio stations that has limitations. But it would only be feasible if Apple were to introduce a lower tier of service.

A cheaper plan with more restrictions than the full-fat service makes sense in this context. It would mean the full-priced users retain the ability to skip without restrictions, while the “lite” users face limits.

It would also be a justifiable explanation for the “Premium access required” message. Users paying less than full-price subscribers would naturally have parts of the experience blocked off or curtailed, requiring such a message to be needed.

Not free

While the messages certainly correlate with the idea of a lower-priced “lite” tier, it does not mean that Apple will be bringing out a completely free tier of Apple Music.

Aside from the trials, Apple Music has never been offered completely free to users without engaging in some kind of offer. For example, being offered as a benefit of a mobile phone contract.

Apple certainly could make a free tier if it wanted to, joining rivals like Spotify in the process. It just won’t, because Apple believes it works against the artist.

In an interview in April, Apple Music VP Oliver Schusser argued that free ad-supported tiers devalue music. The paid subscription is a prioritization of artist compensation and consistent pricing, he insisted.

“I think it’s not the right thing for songwriters and artists to just say, you know what, we’re going to give this away for free,” he said. “Especially with the very little monetization that artists and songwriters are going to get in return.”

With Apple keen to keep Apple Music a paid service, that makes a free option extremely unlikely to arrive anytime soon, if ever.