Apple Music is making its six radio stations available via the TuneIn platform, seemingly in a bid to better utilise its radio services as a promotional tool for its premium music subscription product. It’s the first time the Apple radio stations have been available outside the tech giant’s own apps.
“Apple Music Radio has always been about connection, artists sharing their music and their stories in real time, and listeners discovering something new together”, says Rachel Newman, co-Head of Apple Music, in a statement. “Through our partnership with TuneIn, we’re able to bring that experience to even more people, extending beyond the Apple ecosystem and reaching music fans wherever they are”.
The TuneIn tie-up follows hot on the heels of Apple rolling out of its playlist migration tool that makes it easier to import personal playlists from Spotify into Apple Music. All of which suggests the tech giant is getting more aggressive in the battle to sign up music subscribers, as it lags behind Spotify even in its primary markets like the US.
A Wall Street Journal report on the TuneIn deal cites MIDiA data that suggests Apple Music’s share of the premium music streaming market in the US fell to 25% last year, from 30% in 2020, while Spotify’s share increased from 31% to 37% in the same period. Globally, Apple Music’s market share has slipped from 16% to 12% since 2020.
In Q2 2025 Spotify reported 69 million premium subscribers in North America, up from 40 million in Q2 2020 – though that figure is for the whole of North America, not just the USA.
Apple has never offered an ad-funded free tier to its music streaming service, even though the ‘freemium-to-sell-premium’ strategy has generally worked well for Spotify, its biggest rival in the digital music market.
Instead, Apple has mainly relied on lengthy free trials offered when people purchase Apple devices, and the fact its music app is pre-installed on those devices. It also benefits from Apple Music being included as part of its Apple One plan aimed at families.
The free radio stations have been part of the Apple Music offering since it launched in 2015. The radio element initially employed the Beats name, a reference to Apple’s acquisition of Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre’s headphones-and-streaming business the previous year.
The streaming element of the Beats brand was then shut down to make way for the launch of Apple Music. A few years later – in 2020 – the Beats radio stations were given a brand refresh as Apple Music Radio.
Signed-in Apple users can access Apple Music Radio content for free as soon as they open Apple Music. And with a roster of big-name presenters – including Alanis Morisette, Elton John, Aitch and Frank Ocean – the Apple Music Radio brand has a fair amount of clout, with clips from the stations’ programming often gaining traction across socials.
However, it’s unclear how much of an impact the radio services have had in terms of promoting and driving paying subscribers into the premium music service.
Pushing Apple Music Radio to TuneIn’s 75 million monthly active users should mean the six stations now play a bigger promotional role – the TuneIn app will include a link back to Apple Music where users can buy a subscription. Meanwhile the added exposure may help Apple Music to increase the amount of exclusive artist content – whether shows, takeovers or interviews – it can secure.
In its report on the TuneIn deal, the Wall Street Journal notes that Apple wants to bring some of those TuneIn users into its own ecosystem, adding, “the aim is to convert Apple Music’s radio listeners into paying subscribers to its music service, which has fallen further behind Spotify in recent years”.
The TuneIn partnership has reportedly been in the works since late last year, with Apple approaching the radio aggregator about it carrying its six stations.
