More students to get Apple Music discount

An Apple Music subscription, which is priced at $9.99 per month, will now be available to students at $4.99.

The option will be available to 82 markets where the service is offered. Apple Music made the student discount available to 79 markets on 12 February and it will add the three outstanding countries by 26 February.

The half-price discount will be given to students who are enrolled in a college or university. The legitimacy of the institutions and active enrolment will be verified by student validation service UNiDAYS.

The discount will be available to students for four years, which do not have to be consecutive. Students who leave school and return will be able to sign up when they enrol again.

“UNiDAYS revalidates your student status. If UNiDAYS finds that you're no longer a student or if you have a student subscription for a full 48 months, your subscription automatically becomes an Apple Music Individual subscription,” a UNiDAYS statement reads.

African countries that are eligible for the student discount include Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Guinea-Bissau, Botswana, Cape Verde, Zimbabwe, Gambia and Niger.

Burkina Faso is only eligible for iTunes Match. The West African country is likely to be eligible for full individual Apple Music subscriptions later this month.

The student discount was introduced in May 2016 and was limited to Australia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK and US. The service was then introduced to 30 more countries, including South Africa, in November of the same year.

Earlier this month, Apple announced that it had a 36-million subscriber base reported to be growing at 5% per month. Apple’s rival, Spotify, which has 70 million users, is only growing at 2% per month.

It is likely that Apple Music will further encroach on Spotify with its student subscription service, as it converts student accounts into individual accounts after they leave school, assuming that they continue to use the service after their college years. Most active users of Apple Music are between the ages of 18 and 29.

Trial accounts have also helped Apple Music acquire a growing number of users.