It has arrived, Apple Music.

Apple has finally jumped into the music streaming race, unveiling Apple Music at WWDC this afternoon. The company revolutionized digital music with the iPod and iTunes, but is now playing catch up, trying to align itself with the current era of subscription offerings."We’ve had a long relationship with music," said Apple CEO Tim Cook. "And music has had a rich history of change, some of which we’ve played a part in." The service will bring combine music downloads, streaming radio, and a streaming music service into a single app. Like most digital services, it promises to learn your tastes and recommend great new songs accordingly.

The one strong hook Apple might have is its new free streaming radio offering created by Trent Reznor and Jimmy Ivine. Apple has rebuilt iTunes Radio and reportedly staffed it with big name artists like Dr. Dre, Will I Am, Pharrell, and Drake acting as DJs. It is also bringing on experienced talent like BBC’s Zane Lowe to help curate stations. Jimmy Iovine, who has been heading up Apple’s renewed push into music, reportedly tried to sign other big names like Kanye West and Beyoncé to exclusive deals, but lost out to Tidal, a rival service recently launched by Jay Z and a consortium of high-profile musicians.



The first station is called BeatsOne and will be available in 100 countries. It's going to be playing tunes round the clock and will be anchored by three DJs: Zane Lowe, Ebro Darden and Julie Adenuga. Apple's Eddie Cue says that the music it recommends to you "It isn't just algorithms, it's recommendations made by our team of experts." This is pretty much the same pitch that Beats made when it launched.

Apple also showed off a feature called Connect that lets artists upload music, photos, and messages which are shared with his fans. It's basically a blog fans can subscribe to, then comment and like individual posts. This is similar to the exclusive behind the scenes material that Tidal has been sharing from its cadre of artists.

Drake came onstage to show off Connect (let the "Drake the type of" memes begin!). He said as a child he wondered if he or anyone from Canada could make it big in the world of rap. Luckily technology was there to help. "The dream of being a new artist like myself five years ago and connecting directly with an audience has never been more close or reachable." He will be releasing his next album, obviously, on Connect.

Apple brought former record executive and Beats founder Jimmy Iovine on stage. He recalls the dark ages of Napster, when technology attacked his industry like an "invader from the North." Iovine says he reached out to Apple. " I reached out to Tim Cook and Eddy Cue, and said can we build a complete ecosystem to do everything you want to do?"

The big question is whether Apple needs to differentiate to succeed. It is entering a market dominated by Spotify, which has racked up over 60 million users, with 15 million paid subscribers. Spotify has had the run of the land since it came to the US from Europe in 2011, but with over 800 million credit cards on file, Apple has a chance to quickly assemble a large user base and give Spotify its first true challenger. If it can get people who purchase a new Apple device to sign up for a free trial, it may end up bringing a large number of new users into the streaming music market that up until this point were not convinced to give a paid
service a try.

It's being shown off exclusively on iPhones at Apple's WWDC 2015, but the new Apple Music service will be spreading out beyond the Apple realm, including a release on Android later this year. The new subscription service — costing $9.99 per month (first 3 months free) or $14.99 for up to six family members — will first be available on the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac and PC starting with iOS 8.4 and hopefully before the end of June, and will make its way to the Apple TV and Android phones later in the fall.