It seems Apple is sick of giving away three months of access to Apple Music.
The length of Apple Music’s free trial has been reduced from three months, which Apple has offered since the platform debuted in 2015, to just one month, Macotakara reports. Apple confirmed on its website that Apple Music now offers a one-month free trial.
9to5Mac notes that Apple still offers a six-month free trial to people who purchase a qualifying audio device—including AirPods, HomePod, and Beats—however. (Not that spending hundreds of dollars on hardware specifically to lengthen a free trial is advised.)
A service like this offering a one-month free trial isn’t unusual on its own. That’s actually typical for most subscription offerings; Apple Music was the outlier for providing three months of access at no cost as the standard free trial rather than as part of a specific promotion.
But it’s hard not to imagine that Apple is making this change specifically because it wants people canceling their Spotify memberships due to the ongoing controversy surrounding “The Joe Rogan Experience” to start paying for Apple Music sooner rather than later.
It’s not like Apple’s played coy about the Rogan controversy. Apple Music declared itself “the home of Neil Young” after the artist pulled his music from Spotify, for example, and it highlighted Joni Mitchell’s catalog when she decided to remove her music from Spotify as well.
In June, Apple also reduced its Apple TV+ free trial with the purchase of a new device from one year to three months. Without a device purchase, Apple offers a 7-day free trial for its streaming service; Apple One members get a month for free.
