Beats has updated its Beats Music streaming music app with in-app subscriptions, Facebook friend search, an offline mode and more. The move allows users to subscribe to the Beats Music service via their iTunes account.
What’s New in Version 1.0.7
You asked for it, and we listened! Some highlights in this release include:
– In-app subscription and account management via your iTunes account
– Find Your Friends — find and follow your Facebook friends on Beats Music
– Improved Facebook and Twitter account management
– Thousands of new tracks available in The Sentence
– Artist Offers — discover new content and merchandise from your favorite artists
– Offline Mode & Downloading improvements
– Music Player performance fixes
Previously, users had to subscribe to Beat Music on the service’s website, allowing Beats to bypass Apple’s 70 / 30 split with developers, which would result in the Cupertino company netting $3 a month from Beats Music’s $10-a-month fee for every subscriber Beats adds within the app.
Beats CEO Ian Rogers tells Re/code that the company made its decision to add in-app subscriptions, and therefore submit to the 70 / 30 split, when it found that more than half of its users used iPhones, making it difficult to get an iOS user to subscribe with no in-app subscription option.
Other music streaming services like Rdio and Rhapsody also sell subscriptions in-app, although Rdio’s in-app subscription price was raised from $10 a month to $15 a month to make up for Apple’s cut. Spotify, however, does not offer in-app subscriptions, though it does offer a free, ad-supported mode available in its app.
Beats Music is available in the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
