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About one in 10 U.S. owners of an iPhone or other iOS device are currently using Apple Music, the Cupertino, Calif. company's streaming service, according to a survey conducted by MusicWatch.
But nearly half of those who have tried Apple Music -- which offers a free three-month trial -- have stopped using it, said MusicWatch, a research firm based in Huntington, N.Y. that specializes in the music industry.
Apple disputed MusicWatch's numbers. According to a company spokesman Thursday, 79% of the those worldwide who have signed up for Apple Music's trial continue to use the service.
Earlier this week, MusicWatch, citing the results of a survey it conducted this month of 5,000 U.S. consumers, contended that just 11% of all domestic iOS users were now using Apple Music.
"Actually, I was surprised, given all the run-up to Apple Music," said Russ Crupnick, a managing partner at MusicWatch, in an interview. "I thought the [11%] would be higher."
So did Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research, who last week parsed Apple's Aug. 3 claim that globally it had signed up 11 million customers to Apple Music since the June 30 debut. "Eleven million is only about 2% of [the 500 million iPhone users worldwide], which makes for a tiny conversion rate," Dawson wrote in a piece published on Tech.pinions (subscription required).
Both Crupnick and Dawson were nonplussed by the low number, whether the 11% using Apple Music in the U.S. (Crupnick) or the 11 million Apple touted worldwide (Dawson). After all, the service doesn't cost users a dime until their three-month free ride ends. "It's a free, low-risk endeavor," said Dawson in an interview today. "Yet they have this very, very small number who have bothered to try it out."
Crupnick and Dawson each cast for reasons why fewer iOS owners -- the prime audience, although Apple Music can also be accessed by Mac and Windows users -- than expected had taken to the service. One possibility, both said, is that interest in music streaming had been grossly overestimated.
"This whole concept is relatively new to most people [in the U.S.], and is still getting traction," said Crupnick.
"Is this an indication that the market for streaming is very, very small, that it's not much bigger than Spotify has signed up?" asked Dawson, who pegged Spotify's global paid subscription base at 20 million.
Or is it because of the way that Apple presented the service?
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Monday August 24 2015, @06:29AM
You should just find random playlists on free streaming sites to find new artists.
Considering the amount of new music that is made all the time and growing populations across the globe, even if you only enjoyed a fraction of the content, that's still a lot of content. And old content you've never listened to.
Theoretically algorithms could reduce the amount of time needed to find music you would like. That requires giving up data, perhaps with a dummy account, and a good suggestion algorithm. There are companies that are building their entire business model solely around suggesting you music tracks, so maybe it works for someone.
Recently I've used Google Play Music [google.com].
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(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24 2015, @06:41AM
> Theoretically algorithms could reduce the amount of time needed to find music you would like.
Creates the "more of the same" bubble effect. That might be OK for a lot of listeners, they get new music that sounds like old music. Music does seem to be cyclical, lots of 70s inspired stuff is popular now - Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke just lost $5.3M for copying a Margin Gaye song [wikipedia.org] and these guys [youtube.com] who sound a lot like led zepplin meets r&b have been opening for AC/DC
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24 2015, @11:35PM
I'm addicted to soma fm [somafm.com]. Plenty of stations, good music (especially the Secret Agent station), and it plays on all my devices (including iPod, thanks to the app, since Apple fucked over internet radio in the new iOS Music). I've ended up discovering through them and buying a lot of artists that I'd never have otherwise found.