“As if Apple needed the money, Tim Cook is about to add yet another billion-dollar business to the company’s war chest,” David Goldman reports for CNN.
“Apple Music now has 15 million subscribers, Cook announced at a Wall Street Journal technology conference in Laguna Beach, California, on Monday evening,” Goldman reports. “Of those 15 million, 6.5 million are paying customers (the other 8.5 million are still on Apple’s free three-month trial). Subscribers pay Apple $10 a month for access to unlimited streaming music. Do the math: 6.5 million times $10 a month times 12 months in a year = $780 million. That’s not quite a billion, but Apple only needs to convert 1.8 million more of the free-trial subscribers to reach that mark.”
MacDailyNews Take: Some measure of those 6.5 million, probably more than most would guess, are paying $14.99 for the family plan, which is, by far, the best deal.
“And Apple Music, which launched in June, would join the iPhone, iPad, Mac, iTunes and Apple TV as the company’s billion dollar businesses. Apple Watch will likely reach that mark this year too,” Goldman reports. “Cook’s announcement implies that about 60% of Apple Music customers stick with the service after the free trial. Even if some people forgot to cancel the service (and will do so after they receive their first bill), it’s a very good start for Apple Music.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Again, are 6.5 million paying subscribers for a well-priced, full-featured, albeit UI-challenged service that launched in over 100 countries nearly four months ago really a “good start?” We expected better, so, no, we’re not impressed.
As we wrote back in August: This might be a harder sell than most, including Apple (with their rumored goal of 100 million subscribers), initially thought.
Yes we expect more, but again to be realistic, a lot of options for music are FREE, and you can’t beat FREE.
You CAN beat free if you offer more convenience or less advertising.
nothings ever FREE unless its illegal and illegal does not compensate the very artist making it – so PAY UP and enjoy being part of the process… now do you want ads or just clean uninterrupted goodness? I will take my Apple Music
Apple Music will grow bigger with time and UI adjustments. It will be part of the Apple Ecosystem that many rave about……..
It can be far simpler to have one site for all your “stuff” than having to go to 10 different ones…….
Time will tell………………
Now back to the FUD, Apppppple is dooooooomed narrative!!!
Newer music is not something to have much passion over let alone subscribe to. Most of today’s music has precious little joy and I’m already well stocked on the more joyous & fun music of yesteryear. Of course add in the multi-distractions now and it’s a different era where music has much less power than it did in the 50’s -90’s. No surprise as music has become so devalued. Anyone in music biz now better be prepared for a lifetime of touring in order to make money.
The latest horrible trend of venues removing chairs and forcing people to stand (in order to pack in more bodies, make no mistake about it) loses the older crowd pretty handily. I went to a couple and standing for 4-5 hours is hardly conducive to enjoying anything.
if apple made it easy to share apple Music playlists with one’s friends, then they would have had a good product. The lack of playlist sharing is jejune bs ridiculousness. I’m not freekin fooled by apple music playlists curated for me – where’s my friends tab in apple music – if it’s not social, how the hell is supposed to compete against spotify.
Again, I call user error navigating Apple Music. Spend some time (like more than 10 minutes) getting to “KNOW” Apple Music. It is now my best friend. It is killer now & it is only getting better.
Ponder how much $$$$$$$$$ it would cost you to purchase every single album or song on Apple Music.
Let’s do the math. $14.99 per month / 6 users = $2.498333333333 per month per user. WOW!! That IS expensive for a top notch startup company like AAPL… GMAFB.
Good LORD people are CHEAP!
For the record …
NOTHING COMES FOR FREE!…
Someone, somewhere, along the way will have to PAY in one way shape or form for online music.
There is no such thing as” FREE MUSIC”. Have fun with those most ANNOYING GIECO ads between tracks. FCK u Soros. Does NAPSTER ring a bell?
Maybe for your heard it’s $2.498333333333 per month per user. For me it’s $9.99. You breeders are always looking for subsidies from the rest of us. Pull your weight. Voluntarily. Buy six individual memberships.
Maybe you should set up a web site to ask for donations. Tough times.
No, just not a fan of subsidies, be it tax breaks from the Government, group rates from businesses or encouraging excessive use of public resources. Can you imagine the amount of wear and tear 6 sets of sneakers puts on the sidewalks compared to one? It’s just appalling.
I’d rather the 6 sets of sneakers on the pavement than Soccer Mom herding those 6 kids in a planet-destroying SUV
I agree with you. This whole post was just orneriness on my part. I can’t find a way to use the other four slots on a family plan.
It’s maybe a bit myopic to construe Apple Music purely as new revenue. In truth it’s not that clean when you consider the extent to which Apple Music subscriptions will cannibalize existing revenue from direct iTunes music sales (a multi-billion dollar revenue stream in itself). And let’s not forget the $3 billion charge that it cost to acquire Beats.
This Christmas will sell $1B in Apple Watches alone..
It will cost me $180 a year for Apple Music family subscription. That does sound like a lot but in reality we spend at least that buying music as a family.
What the subscription service does for me is to be able to listen to stuff I wouldn’t normally buy plus get more music from artists I like. So far everyone in the family is using the service.
If I decide to cancel then no big deal – we will just go back to the purchase model.
Had a friend over last weekend, listening to music on the deck. It was fun being able to say, “What would you like to hear….I have EVERYTHING.”
Perhaps Apple is intending to integrate Apple Music into its CarPlay systems in some way, as part of its larger strategy for its plans to disrupt the Auto Industry. It may account for the ‘slow’ adoption rate of this new service, because Apple may have other plans in mind.
How many of these 6.5 were simply caught by the automatic opt-in?
Business likes to get consumers on a drip – paying monthly subscriptions… Consumers can find their monthly bills eat up too much of their monthly income. Phones and internet connections along with power bills and rent mean many consumers have little disposable income for non-necessities. Cable TV subscriptions are falling – household budgets are stretched. Radio is free. Outside the US free to air TV is free, with good programming and enough choice to satisfy most people.
Most people have CDs which only started to disappear when iTunes rose to dominance.
The world outside the US is a different beast…