Rebranding Report: Apple Music
*Originally submitted January, 2025 for the Strategic Communications in Practice: Professional Perspectives course in fulfillment of the MSc Media and Communications program at the London School of Economics.
Co-Authored with Amrin Naaz & Mathea Herlofsen
Apple Music: Rebrand Report
This brand report examines Apple Music, a prominent music streaming service, which is currently facing challenges in the digital music streaming market. Despite its integration within the strong Apple ecosystem that has a well-defined brand identity, Apple Music has only captured a 10-20% share of UK monthly active users. In comparison, Spotify has dominated the market with 50-60%.
This report outlines strategies to enhance Apple Music’s brand identity and address market gaps. The report begins with an overview of Apple Music, followed by a detailed brand audit to identify challenges and opportunities supported by evidence from market data, industry reports, and a competitive analysis. Finally, the rebranding proposal prioritises recommendations supported by actionable elements.
Brand Overview
Apple Music is a subscription-based music streaming service within the Apple portfolio. The app is built-in to all Apple devices, including speakers, tablets, mobile phones and computers. Student plans begin at £5.99 per month, increasing to £10.99 for individual and £16.99 for family plans, with a free three-month trial. Apple Music stands out with its proprietary audio technologies (Lossless, Spatial Audio, and Dolby Atmos). The brand and messaging rely on promoting high-quality and exclusive content like concert performances and behind-the-scenes films, along with over 30,000 expert-curated playlists.
The United Kingdom is the third biggest music market worldwide, with 39 million monthly active users (Gov.uk, 2024; Statista, 2024). Currently, 86% of music sales in the UK are digital, with the industry expected to grow 24% by the end of 2029 as younger music listeners prefer streaming to physical media (Statista, 2024). In 2023, over £800 million in revenue was generated from music subscriptions; currently, Apple Music makes up a 10-20% share of monthly users in the UK (Gov.uk, 2022; Statista, 2024).
With Apple holding over 50% of the market share of mobile device vendors in the UK, we believe there should be much higher adoption of Apple Music (Business of Apps, 2025). Apple Music’s predecessor iTunes revolutionised digital music sales in 2001, with Apple Music officially launching in 2015. By then, competitor Spotify already had 22 million paid subscribers, and 68 million users of their free service (Business of Apps, 2025). Users are unlikely to transfer to a new service once they have established a music library on one platform, and most select their preferred platform based on user experience (Gov.uk, 2022). Even with an upward trend in revenue generation, Apple Music is losing out on market share (Business of Apps, 2025, Gov.uk, 2022).
Brand Audit
To inform our strategy, we begin by defining the brand identity and elements. Brand elements are components which identify and differentiate a brand (Keller, 2011, p. 5), whereas identity examines what the brand is (Keller, 2011). Apple Music’s brand elements and identity are largely tied to Apple. Hence, Apple Music bases its brand elements on simplicity and functionality, mirrored in their visual identity with its logo (a music note in a red-to-pink gradient), and uncluttered user interface.
Apple Music is positioned as a premium and innovative Apple product. Their core identity, or what it stands for (Aaker, 1996; Van Auken, 2015; Johnson, 2018), is their audio quality. Apple Music’s brand personality or the set of human-like traits (Aaker 1996; Aaker, 1997; Keller, 2013; Van Auken, 2015) is sophisticated, focused on exclusive quality. The brand’s promise, or the functional, emotional and self-expressive benefits (Aaker, 1996) are its unparalleled technological features.
Further, this report applies Keller’s Brand Equity model (1993) to audit Apple Music’s brand. Keller's (1993) model is valuable for auditing Apple Music because it offers a consumer-centric framework that emphasises that brand value lies in consumers' minds (Keller, 1993). For Apple Music, this is assessing consumers’ reaction to branding. Brand knowledge is built from awareness (recall and recognition) and image (associations, attitudes) (Keller, 1993). Through managing these, Apple Music can strategically enhance its brand.
Keller’s Brand Equity Model
1. Identity
Salience: Apple Music is recognised for premium quality and seamless integration within the Apple ecosystem. It benefits from Apple’s brand equity but as a streaming service lacks cultural relevance, limiting visibility.
2. Meaning
Performance: Apple Music's ad-free, high-quality audio, and effortless compatibility across the Apple ecosystem—including the MacBook, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch and Apple Airpods—are superior. However, its library and music discovery tools are less differentiated than its competitors who offer highly relevant content, such as AI-generated and specially curated playlists based on mood and activity.
Imagery: The service embodies a refined and premium identity, consistent with Apple’s visual identity.
3. Response
Judgements: Users value Apple Music’s audio fidelity and ecosystem integration but find its recommendation algorithms, curation, and social engagement tools lacking in depth and interactivity. The application may function differently on non-Apple devices, potentially limiting its market share.
Feelings: While Apple Music evokes a sense of sophistication and exclusivity, it does not foster a strong emotional connection tied to personal identity, discovery, or community-driven experiences.
4. Relationship
Resonance: Apple Music has high loyalty among long-term users but a relatively small market share. It struggles with building deep resonance due to limited social sharing, collaborative features, and community-driven experiences. Unlike competitors, it does not actively facilitate engagement or personalised interactions that strengthen loyalty.
Competitive Analysis
Apple Music has only captured 10-20% of the UK’s 39 million monthly active music streaming users, despite being the dominant mobile phone provider in the UK (Gov.uk, 2022; Statista, 2024). Spotify has captured 50-60% of monthly active users in the UK, making it the preferred music streaming service (Gov.uk, 2022). Comparatively, Apple Music and Spotify have captured roughly 31% and 36% of the market in the United States respectively, demonstrating lower Apple Music penetration in the UK (Smith, 2024). We believe that a competitive analysis between Spotify and Apple Music helps identify opportunities for Apple Music to capture new users, especially users who may already own an Apple device (Gov.uk, 2022).
For any rebrand process, understanding the existing market and the gaps is critical (Johnson, 2016). Johnson (2016) suggests a multitude of ways to approach a competitive analysis, but for this audit it is most helpful to examine consumer perception to uncover “whether an organisation’s real point of difference is truly what the company thinks it is” (p. 49). This analysis is beneficial to understand why there is stronger consumer adoption of Spotify over Apple Music.
Apple Music and Spotify offer nearly-identical music catalogues with Apple Music subscriptions being £1 cheaper, meaning users tend to select their platform based on user experience. Through examining social media, users preferred Spotify’s algorithmic music discovery tools (customised playlists and recommendations), shareable and social functions (Spotify Wrapped and social listening feed), and fan perks (concert ticket promotional codes, early ticket access, and artist listening session invitations). Spotify continues to utilise new technology such as AI and is adept at tapping into young consumer preferences with their Spotify Wrapped campaign creating a global cultural moment each year. Spotify promotes inclusion, innovation, and discovery through their slogan, “Music for Everyone.”
Apple Music’s messaging focuses on enhanced sound quality, curation, and exclusive content. We found many users online did prefer Apple’s sound quality to Spotify’s, but this was not enough to effect change. However, many Spotify users voiced concerns about the increasing usage of AI in algorithms as general anxieties about AI grow. There were frustrations from Spotify users around shuffle and playlist functionality, suspicions of payola from major labels, and the proliferation of non-music related features detracting from the music listening experience. For example, user @CosmicReefer tagged Spotify’s official account on Twitter saying, “@Spotify it’s getting muddy with concerts near me, podcasts & anything else on my Home Screen. It’s about the music. That’s why I have Spotify. We keep taking steps down non-music paths & I’d like the option to turn it off. I want to be immersed in only music.” On the other hand, user @antpats2 on Twitter wrote, “So Apple Music is cheaper, has MUCH better sound quality, has Dolby atmos, integrates with the default iPhone music app, gives you WEEKLY and monthly listening stats as well as yearly and some of yall still prefer Spotify?” The tweet garnered over 35 million views and received 191,000 likes and 32,000 retweets.
Clearly, Apple Music is offering a quality product that should be able to compete with Spotify. As Johnson (2016) reminds us, the product has to fit the preexisting consumer perception, and Apple already has a perception of high-quality products. Although the music catalogues are virtually identical, user experience differs greatly, separating users who prefer audio quality and autonomy over their music library from users who prefer personalised music discovery and social functions. Even their respective visual identifiers confirm this–Apple Music’s logo is a single music note to emphasise a focus on the music, while Spotify’s logo is reminiscent of a WiFi symbol, evoking ideas of connection.
Where Apple may fall short, then, is failing to communicate its benefits and differences. There is little promotion of original Apple Music content and Apple Music Replay is a direct response to Spotify Wrapped, but the shareability and insights are very limited. Apple Music has a weak social media presence—with 5 million followers on Instagram compared to Spotify’s 12.5 million on their main channel, not accounting for ancillary accounts such as @spotifyuk, @spotifypodcasts, and @spotifynews. Spotify places a lot of emphasis on marketing campaigns, viral moments, and cultural conversations online through social media. Despite Apple’s success creating captivating marketing campaigns for new devices, there is surprisingly little promotion of their content and streaming services.
Financial Breakdown (Business of Apps, 2025)
In 2023, Apple Music made approximately $9.2 billion revenue in 2023.
It totalled 93 million people subscribers (as of June 2023).
In terms of artist payouts, Apple Music topped the list by paying artists an average $0.0076 per listen.
Rebranding Proposal
Apple Music’s current brand identity emphasises premium quality and the Apple ecosystem. However, its limited engagement, weak cultural resonance, and less differentiated discovery tools are constraints in competing with Spotify, especially in the UK. Hence, Apple Music requires a rebranding strategy, drawing references from the Brand Audit.
Brand Identity
Based on our analysis, Apple Music’s new brand identity will be that of a streaming service that focuses on personal music identity, contemporary relevance, a social and community-driven music discovery experience. For our proposed brand identity, we suggest a new tagline ‘Elevated Sound, Deeper Connection’ to emphasise Apple Music’s premium sound quality while fostering a stronger connection between users and their music experience through enhanced personalisation and exclusive curated content. It should be the place where users build personal music identity. Their current tagline ‘All The Ways You Love Music. All in One Place’ has remained the same since 2015 (Apple, 2015). By introducing the new tagline we hope to introduce a new era, more focused on cultural relevance, emotional engagement, and community-building.
Brand Personality
Apple Music’s proposed personality should focus on competence and excitement. Emphasising competence in brand messaging, Apple Music would promote its better artist payouts, cutting-edge technology, and reliability as a part of the Apple portfolio. Their tone of voice (Johnson, 2018) will make it more human, immersive, and connected to music culture. To promote excitement, Apple Music will launch "Your Music, Your Story," featuring users and artists sharing experiences through TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube to humanise content. Collaborations with influencers and musicians will drive viral challenges and behind-the-scenes content. Social media activations will include artist takeovers, user-generated content, and transparency on artist compensation. It will actively promote its superior artist payouts, promoting diverse and ethical music.
Brand Promise/Proposition
Apple Music’s rebrand will focus on delivering first-access exclusive content, interactive artist experiences, and user-driven features.
Functional: Apple Music will prioritise exclusivity, ensuring users get early access to new music, concert set-lists, and tickets before other services. The plan includes a campaign "Heard It Hear First"—a feature with priority access to major releases, album previews, artist-led commentary, and unreleased demos.
Emotional: Apple Music will build a connection between users and their favorite artists through real-time engagement and better storytelling. With interactive listening parties, Apple Music will host live album drops where fans can listen and react together, sometimes joined by the artist. This would include a new feature where top listeners of an artist receive personal thank-you messages, pre-sale concert access, or exclusive merchandise.
Self-Expressive: Apple Music will let users curate and share their music taste on their profiles on an Instagram-like feed, making listening a more expressive and social experience.
Brand Positioning & Brand Resonance
Our new positioning statement would link Apple Music to a social and deeply personal music experience to address existing gaps. This would help improve Apple Music’s perception and actively communicate what the brand is about (Aaker, 1996).
We would address the lack of strong brand resonance by encouraging user-generated content, making Apple Music a part of users’ digital identities. Our strategy would be positioning Apple Music as a social platform for music discovery which fosters connections between users, artists, and communities. This would include repositioning existing ‘Apple Music Live’ offerings, which are exclusive artist-fan interactions through live performances, interviews, and documentaries (Apple Music, n.d.-b; n.d.-c; Apple Newsroom, 2023a; 2023b). We propose creating a distinct music feed, a feature which allows users and artists to share a playlist and find music collaboratively. Users would be able to upload playlists for their followers and leave reviews, similarly to platforms like Goodreads (Goodreads, n.d.) and Letterboxd (Letterboxd, n.d.) which engage community building (Cross, n.d.).
Target Audience
The target audience for the rebrand proposal is young adults, aged 18-34 as they are more likely to listen to music on streaming services (Statista, 2020; Youth Music & Ipsos MORI, 2020). They are also reported as most likely to listen to music every day (Statista, 2024). Additionally, a majority of 18-29 year olds own an iPhone, with those aged 18-19 being at 70% and those 20-29 at 65%, making them already a part of the Apple ecosystem (Statista, 2024). We have identified an opportunity for growth in the UK specifically, considering Apple Music has only captured 10-20% of the UK market compared to a 31% share in the US (Gov.uk, 2022; Smith, 2024). We aim to reach our audience through strategies around community building as they are the most active audience on social media (Zote, 2024). Those under 35 are also the most active on Goodreads and Letterboxd which share elements we want to implement into Apple Music’s new social feed (Goodreads, 2017; Lee, 2024).
Conclusion
This report analysed Apple Music’s brand identity, challenges, and opportunities. While Apple Music benefits from its integration within Apple and its reputation for high-quality sound, its limited market share in the UK compared to Spotify creates opportunity for a rebrand. Keller’s brand audit model identified different parameters that shape the perception of the brand and identified key gaps, including weak social engagement, poor music discovery tools, and a lack of cultural relevance.
To address these challenges, the rebranding strategy proposes a move towards enhanced personalisation, competence and excitement, early access to content, and building a community-based space. The new brand identity, personality, promise, and positioning focus on making Apple Music the go-to platform for music discovery, artist-fan engagement, and social listening, where users can build and share their personal music identities.
Based on the proposed rebrand, we suggest actionable steps like a dedicated user profile/feed, artist-fan interaction, user-generated content and collaborations for social media, priority access, and live album drops. By implementing these strategies, Apple Music has the opportunity to increase user engagement, brand loyalty, and market share among the target audience of UK citizens aged 18-34. This rebrand will ensure Apple Music is no longer just a premium streaming service but a dynamic cultural space for discovering new music, promoting ethical and diverse listening patterns, and expressing personal identity.
References
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