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posted by cmn32480 on Monday August 24 2015, @06:03AM   Printer-friendly
from the is-apple-just-too-late-to-the-party dept.

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?


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by VortexCortex on Monday August 24 2015, @07:28AM

    by VortexCortex (4067) on Monday August 24 2015, @07:28AM (#226907)

    Rather than support an industry which has been hostile to me since I was old enough to buy cassette tapes via "pirate tax" levies on blank media, I don't listen to mainstream music anymore. Initially this was to get out of that abusive relationship, but now I just don't enjoy what they have to offer. Primarily I support local musicians by going to their concerts. Along with the (now cliché) independent rock groups, folk music and electronic music has seen a resurgence here in Houston. Even metal, new-wave (80's esque), big band and classical music genres are seeing growth among independent artists. Lots of artists do crowd funding. I'm a patron of music venues, I go to house concerts and hang out with the musicians, and I buy a lot of my music directly from the artists.

    There are online alternatives to supporting the RIAA via Apple / Google or other commercial streaming service. Some alternatives have free music such as Jamendo [jamendo.com] and Magnatune. [magnatune.com] All of my digital music library is Creative Commons licensed, so there's no fear of getting sued for transferring music to whatever device I want, I can even give friends access to my personal media streaming service. It's such a peaceful feeling being able to do whatever I want with my music library without any copyright vultures circling overhead.

    I can't count the amount of money I've paid to the RIAA / MPAA in the form of levies on blank tapes, floppies, CD's, DVDs, etc. over past decades. I can understand why "pirates" feel they're owed the right to download whatever they want, since they're actually paying the price to do so via the "pirate tax" on media. Nowadays I try to buy as little media as I can, preferring to stream from my home servers when I can.

    Last month I got a free voucher for a music service, so I checked out what's available in mainstream music. I didn't particularly like any of what was available so I gave the voucher to my younger brother (over a decade younger "millennial"). He told me he gave the voucher to a friend since none of the music he wanted was on the service either, and he listens to more "popular" music like rock/pop/screamo, etc. genres that were available on the platform. "They didn't have anything new", he told me, "you can get all that crap on youtube already."

    The music "industry" as I see it is undergoing a shift towards a more diverse selection sponsored more directly by fans without publisher middlemen as gatekeepers. Fans are enjoying more local music, and more "personal" interaction with the musicians. Aficionados are getting newer music faster than giant corporate publishing systems can keep up with. You don't have to be on a "label" to get heard now.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Monday August 24 2015, @11:28AM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 24 2015, @11:28AM (#226982)

    "you can get all that crap on youtube already."

    According to my daughter and her grade school friends, the official ipad music app is youtube. For the younger-than-millenials (say, less than 10 yrs old) this is the only source of music. Older people know about the pay services and mp3 files and cds and older stuff, but for her the only source is youtube.

    Every time I play a song for her on my phone, I shut off the phone, put the phone face down, and get surprised the music stops in a second or two, which is an annoying part of using youtube. Also the bandwidth of video is huge if all we're doing is listening to the music.

    Some of the play stats for youtube music are surprisingly high.

    • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Monday August 24 2015, @07:00PM

      by hemocyanin (186) on Monday August 24 2015, @07:00PM (#227185) Journal

      It seems to me that youtube is now autoplaying "next". At least, if I watch some video in the garage and then leave before it ends, and come back later, I find youtube still going, playing whatever it thinks it ought to play next.

      • (Score: 2) by VLM on Monday August 24 2015, @07:28PM

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 24 2015, @07:28PM (#227200)

        Yes sometimes its hilarious to see where it ends up. Almost a drinking game all by itself.