Using Shazam on your iPhone or iPad to identify a track will unlock a free subscription to Apple Music. Users will be able to stream songs, playlists and albums from Apple Music for up to five months without paying a penny as part of the new Christmas promotion, users have reported.
If you’re based in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and Canada, identify a track will unlock a free five-month subscription to Apple Music. Other countries will be eligible for the offer. To check whether it’s available where you’re living, check the Apple App Store listing for Shazam.
Unfortunately, if you’re already enjoyed a free subscription to Apple Music (Spotify offered an almost identical offer with a six-month free subscription up for grabs last year) you won’t be eligible. Although, some users have reportedly been able to unlock a two-month subscription free of charge – despite taking part in the promotion last Christmas season, so it’s worth a shot anyway.
To take part, download the Shazam app to your iPhone or iPad and then identify a track by tapping on the logo in the centre of the touchscreen. Shazam listens to the music you’re hearing – whether it’s playing in the background of a shop you’re in, being used in a television show or movie soundtrack, or cropped-up on your favourite radio station – and identifies the artist, track name and album.
Once it’s identified the name of the song, you’ll see an option to play the song on Apple Music.
Tap on this option and Shazam will offer up to five-month subscription to Apple Music for free. According to some iOS users, you can unlock the offer by heading into the settings of the Shazam app where there is a banner advertising the extended trial for Apple Music. The offer is only valid until January 17, 2021 so you’ll want to be quick.
If you’re not sold on Apple Music after the free five-month trial, you can cancel the subscription by heading to Settings and tapping your profile picture, then tapping Subscriptions.
If you’re worried that you’ll forget to cancel the subscription and will find Apple Music automatically renewing in five months time – don’t panic. Apple lets you cancel the subscription minutes after redeeming the offer. You’ll still have access to the music service for the duration of the free offer period, but you won’t be automatically moved into a paid subscription (for £9.99 a month) at the end.
Apple acquired Shazam back in 2017 for a cool $400 million. Since then, the audio recognition system has been baked into voice assistant Siri, so users can ask the chatty AI what is playing, as well as the iOS Control Centre quick settings menu. Although Spotify users can still use Shazam to identify tracks and launch them within the streaming app, Apple Music is promoted heavily within the app – not least with promotions like the five-month free streaming deal.
