Apple on Monday unveiled a new music streaming service called, aptly enough, Apple Music. It combines your own music with Apple’s massive song library, plus human-powered Internet radio stations and recommendation engines.
Apple Music is clearly aimed at on-demand streaming king Spotify, even matching the $9.99/month price for Spotify’s ad-free Premium subscription. What Spotify offers that Apple Music doesn’t is a free version, which has a more limited feature set and jams your jams with ads every few songs.
But that free tier could actually be a massive disadvantage for Spotify. Only about about 15% of Spotify’s 60 million users pay for the service, but their subscription fees make up around 90% of the company’s revenue.
That small but highly lucrative slice of Spotify users is exactly what Apple is after with Apple Music. After all, those users have already shown they’re willing to fork over 10 bucks a month for unlimited tunes. And there’s no penalty for switching: Spotify charges month-to-month with no cancellation fee, so users aren’t locked in to the service. This also explains why Apple’s rolling out an Android version of Apple Music — to go after more of Spotify’s user base. If Apple converts enough of Spotify’s paid users, it could totally decimate Spotify’s business.
Read more Streaming Showdown: Apple Music vs. Spotify vs. Pandora vs. Rdio
But the biggest advantage Apple Music will have is even simpler than all that: It will be automatically installed when iPhone users upgrade to iOS 8.4 later this month, while iPhones sold with that software on board will have the app pre-installed. Installing an app from the App Store is a dead simple process, but it’s still a big barrier to adoption. Having that nice shiny Apple Music logo on users’ screens right off the bat will give Apple Music a big push in its early days — especially in concert with Apple’s three-months-free offering. If Apple converts enough trial users into paid subscribers, that one-two punch could send Spotify spiraling into second place.
See How Google and Apple's Latest Major Events Compare
![Google Hosts Its I/O Developers Conference Google Android Wear smart watches are displayed during the 2015 Google I/O conference on May 28, 2015 in San Francisco.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/android-wear.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/apple-wwdc-nightstand1.png?w=2400&quality=75)
![Google Androids Next Tricks Google Androids Next Tricks](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/google-pay.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/google-android-m.png?w=2400&quality=75)
![](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/apple-wwdc-91.png?w=2400&quality=75)
![Inside The Google I/O Developers Conference Inside The Google I/O Developers Conference](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/android-car.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/apple-wwdc-car1.png?w=2400&quality=75)
![Google Hosts Its I/O Developers Conference Google Android Wear director David Singleton announces Androidwear updates during the 2015 Google I/O conference on May 28, 2015 in San Francisco.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/android-wear-apps.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Apple Watch Apps](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/apple-wwdc-9apps21.png?w=2400&quality=75)
![Google Hosts Its I/O Developers Conference Google Photos director Anil Sabharwal announces Google Photos during the 2015 Google I/O conference on May 28, 2015 in San Francisco.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/google-photos.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/apple-wwdc-music32.png?w=2400&quality=75)
Read next: 4 Things Apple Just Announced That You Need to Know About
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Welcome to the Noah Lyles Olympics
- Melinda French Gates Is Going It Alone
- What to Do if You Can’t Afford Your Medications
- How to Buy Groceries Without Breaking the Bank
- Sienna Miller Is the Reason to Watch Horizon
- Why So Many Bitcoin Mining Companies Are Pivoting to AI
- The 15 Best Movies to Watch on a Plane
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
Contact us at letters@time.com