Apple isn’t leaving anything to chance with its new music subscription service.

Yes, that Apple brand still packs a wallop. But the company’s attempt to elbow aside existing services like Spotify, Pandora and Rdio, plus new kid on the block Tidal with Apple Music, won’t be easy.

Apple Music is $9.99 per month, with a 90-day free trial period. Pricing is in line with its competition.

Enter Apple’s secret weapon: Mr. “Happy” himself, Pharrell Williams. The chart topper is headlining next month’s Apple Music Festival, a 10-day event starting Sept. 19 in London. Why should stateside music fans care about a European concert series?

For starters, Williams will be joined by One Direction and Florence + The Machine on the festival circuit, as well as other acts. More importantly, the concerts will be broadcast live and on demand on, what else, Apple Music. The company also will share the jams via Apple’s Beats 1 radio. Subscribe to another music service and you won’t hear a note.

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The annual event once went by the name iTunes Festival. A rebranding was in order thanks to the recent Apple Music launch. Last year’s festival ran for five nights at Austin’s Moody Theater and featured Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, Pitbull, Keith Urban and ZEDD.

Apple Music is $9.99 per month, with a 90-day free trial period. Pricing is in line with its competition.

Will the Apple Music Festival give the service an economic jolt? A just-released study by MusicWatch suggests it’s coming at the right time — maybe. The survey of 5,000 U.S. consumers ages 13 and up showed that nearly half (48 percent) of those who signed up for the free 90-day window failed to continue with the service.