Apple launches streaming service Apple Music and Radio stations

In a bid to re-enter a crowded market it once dominates, Apple unveiled its much-awaited online music service on Monday to regain its leadership in digital music industry.

Apple Music was launched by the rapper Drake at the Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference(WWDC), who said, "This is something that simplifies everything for the modern musician like myself, and the modern consumer like you."

The team behind making of Apple Music is the Beats Music service that Apple acquired as part of its $3 billion acquisition of music-tech company Beats Electronics in 2014.

Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine described how the current state of the music industry is a "fragmented mess" of different platforms. Apple Music aims to harmonize all that in a single platform clearing all the confusion and providing everything under one umbrella.

Apple Music will be launched in 100 countries by end of June, and initially will be availabe on iOS, Mac and Windows. Later in autumn, an Android version will also be available.

Apple also introduced its radio station called Beats 1 that will broadcast round-the-clock from Los Angeles.

To bring in new music experience to users, the company is reportedly in talks with stars like Drake and Dr. Dre to host their own music shows. Earlier in 2013, Apple had tied up with guest DJs like Jared Leto and Katy Perry and rolled out celebrity-curated playlists.

Speaking at the Midem in Cannes a day before the launch of Apple Music, the Sony Music CEO Doug Morris took the opportunity to praise Apple's brilliant move in getting Jimmy Iovine to run Apple's music service. Morris predicted that Apple's new music streaming service will be the 'tipping point' that will move the industry from downloads to streaming.

Morris insisted further that Apple's staggering $178 billion dollars in revenue and its 800 million of credit card users on file in iTunes would give a push to the yet to be launched digital music service.

However, he exuded confidence that the technology giant would rigorously advertise the new project resulting in significant in streaming business. The music company has a 5.8 percent stake in Spotify. A version of its contract with Spotify became public in a leak last month.