Apple Provides Soundtrack For Retail Stores With Music For Business

To provide a soundtrack for brick-and-mortar retail stores, Apple has been quietly testing out an Apple Music version for use in business, including at Harrods and Levi Strauss & Co. stores. The tech company has teamed with PlayNetwork Inc., a firm that specializes in offering music for use commercially, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Harrods, for instance, began using the Apple Music for Business offering a few weeks ago in its store in London. The retailer has drawn on the playlists of Apple Music to make a custom Harrods Playlist, which is described as a combination of ambient, classical, experimental and electronic music.

Screens by the escalators in the store encourage customers to listen to the Harrods Playlist on Apple Music. Apple pays a referral fee to the company for every trial of Apple Music the efforts bring in. The merchant has a page on the consumer app of Apple Music that highlights the main playlist in addition to others it recommends like the Harrods Christmas Playlist.

Apple Music for Business has landed 25 accounts in its half a year of operation. The service will bring music to over 10,000 stores when the accounts are fully implemented. The offering has turned its focus to retail chains with 100 locations or more, but it reportedly plans to expand into small as well as mid-sized businesses.

In separate news, the Chinese firm behind the popular TikTok video app is set to rival players such as Apple and Spotify in the music streaming market with the rollout of its own competing service. ByteDance is reportedly in talks with the biggest record companies around the globe for licensing deals to put their songs on a new music subscription offering.

Music executives are reportedly keen to make money from TikTok, which comes at no cost to use. They are said to see a new app from the firm as a welcome entrant to the market for music streaming in which firms with the inclusion of Apple, Amazon and Spotify provide a similar music catalog.