Apple Music promo lets subscribers give one month of free service to a friend

In what is quickly becoming Apple's preferred method of advertising to existing customers, the company on Friday sent out an iOS push notification offering Apple Music subscribers the ability to give away one free month of service.

The push notification, distributed to current Apple Music subscribers, redirects to an Apple-hosted webpage that allows users to gift a month of service to a friend.

"Apple Music is better with friends. So give one of yours a free month," a tagline on the website reads.

Users are urged to take advantage of the promotion by tapping on a large "Give by Text" button, which sends a custom referral link to a contact via Messages. Redeeming the offer sets a recipient up with an individual Apple Music membership that automatically renews after one month.

Apple notes only non-subscribers are eligible for the gift subscription, adding that the one-month membership can append Apple Music's standard three-month trial period for new users. The subsequent four-month period is identical to an extended trial offer presented Shazam users during the Grammy Awards earlier in February.

While not confirmed, the fine print suggests former Apple Music subscribers can also take advantage of the free month offer.

Reports of the Apple Music promotion hit Twitter earlier today.

Apple has increasingly leveraged its push notification service to tout hardware and software promotions, a strategy seemingly at odds with its own developer ruleset. Specifically, section 4.5.3 of the App Store Guidelines prohibits developers from using Apple Services to "spam, phish, or send unsolicited messages to customers."

The first of Apple's push notification ads arrived on Dec. 7, when the Apple Store app sent out a message urged iPhone owners to upgrade to the latest iPhone XS and XR. Later that month, notifications from Apple Music promoted new "Carpool Karaoke" episodes and an Alexa skill that introduced the music streaming service to Amazon Echo devices.

6 Comments

NY1822 620 comments · 8 Years

About 5 years ago

I am a subscriber and did not receive any push notification...did anyone receive theirs?

Dave Kap 60 comments · 8 Years

I didn’t.

ihatescreennames 1971 comments · 19 Years

NY1822 said:

I am a subscriber and did not receive any push notification...did anyone receive theirs?

Nope. As a matter of fact, I have never received any of the push notifications that I've read about here and that apparently many, many people get. It makes sense I wouldn't get the notification to upgrade to a XS as I've had one since before December. But I'm also an Apple Music subscriber and haven't seen either of the AM push notifications or the one about Alexa (I do not have an Echo, not sure if that matters).

entropys 4302 comments · 13 Years

So you buy them a free month, then eventually they end up paying a subscription if they forget to cancel?
Somehow I feel that is not the right kind of gift to give a friend.

edit: neither I or any of the family have received the notification on our subscription. Maybe Apple Music *knows* I wouldn’t like to do it.

mac_128 3452 comments · 12 Years

entropys said:

So you buy them a free month, then eventually they end up paying a subscription if they forget to cancel?
Somehow I feel that is not the right kind of gift to give a friend.

edit: neither I or any of the family have received the notification on our subscription. Maybe Apple Music *knows* I wouldn’t like to do it.

I agree. It says the music account renews automatically after one month. Not really a nice thing to do to somebody. At least with the wine of the month club gift it just ends, maybe with a notice to join and continue, but it doesn’t start charging the recipients credit card.

so, does that mean I pay for the “gift” month like if I gift a book, or movie? And if so, I could theoretically continually “gift” someone every month to provide the service for them? Or is it a one-time only thing? I guess if it renews automatically, they’d have to cancel it first before I’d be able to gift it again? Since it specifically states former Apple Music subscribers and non-subscribers can get the gifted month, I guess that means someone can’t just gift a free month to someone who is already subscribing?

im not really seeing a lot to love about this “gift”. Given that anyone can get 3 months free by themselves just by signing up, and reading all the fine print for themselves, I’m not sure what an extra 4th month does for anyone, except cause confusion, and possibly anger by not understanding this “gift” that keeps on giving at the recipients expense. After all, if they don’t know whether they want to subscribe to Apple Music after 3 free months on their own, a fourth month doesn’t really push them over the edge ...