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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?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24 2015, @07:39AM
Sometimes stuff really is mediocre and some years/periods are worse than others.
e.g. grammy nominees for Song of the Year: 2012
*WINNER: "Rolling In The Deep" — Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth, songwriters (Adele)
"All Of The Lights" — Jeff Bhasker, Malik Jones, Warren Trotter & Kanye West, songwriters (Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi & Fergie)
"The Cave" — Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford & Country Winston, songwriters (Mumford & Sons)
"Grenade" — Brody Brown, Claude Kelly, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Bruno Mars & Andrew Wyatt, songwriters (Bruno Mars)
"Holocene" — Justin Vernon, songwriter (Bon Iver)
With competition like that no surprise Adele won.
2013's list was much better - "We Are Young" vs Stronger, Call Me Maybe, "The A Team". 4 decent songs?
For year 2002:
Winner: "Fallin'" (Alicia Keys)
"Drops Of Jupiter" (Charlie Colin, Rob Hotchkiss, Pat Monahan, Jimmy Stafford & Scott Underwood)
"I'm Like A Bird" (Nelly Furtado)
"Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of" (U2)
"Video" (India.Arie, Carlos Broady & Shannon Sanders)
I personally liked "I'm like a Bird", Drops of Jupiter and the U2's song's chorus is ok (but rest of it is meh). And "Video" is worse than meh. So 2.5 decent songs? Fallin is crap ( this is better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMX1sc3eOTE [youtube.com] ).
1992:
Winner: Unforgettable - (WTF 40+ year old song wins...)
"Baby Baby" (written by Grant and Keith Thomas),
"(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" (Adams, Robert John (Mutt) Lange and Michael Kamen),
"Losing My Religion" (Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe),
I personally don't know why "Losing My Religion" is even considered a good song**. So I'd say only 2 good songs.
** go compare with their other stuff - "Man on the Moon", "Everybody Hurts", "Shiny Happy People".
In contrast:
1991 was much better - more competitive nominees - 5 songs which would be decent in their genres.
Winner: " From a distance" performed by Bette Midler
Mariah Carey & Ben Margulies for "Vision of Love" performed by Mariah Carey
Phil Collins for "Another Day in Paradise" performed by Phil Collins
Prince for "Nothing Compares 2 U" performed by Sinéad O'Connor
Chynna Phillips, Glen Ballard & Carnie Wilson for "Hold On" performed by Wilson Phillips
1984:
Winner: Sting - Every Breath You Take
Lionel Richie - All Night Long
Michael Jackson - Beat It
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Michael Sembello, Dennis Matkosky – Maniac
1983:
Winner: Johnny Christopher, Mark James, Wayne Thompson - Always on My Mind
David Paich - Rosanna
Donald Fagen - IGY (What a Beautiful World)
Frankie Sullivan, Jim Peternik - Eye of the Tiger
Paul McCartney - Ebony And Ivory Lyrics
All notable and decent within their genres/sub-genres.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Song_of_the_Year [wikipedia.org]