“Apple plans to update Apple Music after the music streaming service received mixed reviews and got off to slow start last year, according to Bloomberg,” Amanda Gomez reports for TheStreet.
“The Cupertino, CA-based iPhone maker is improving the user experience on the application to make it more intuitive for subscribers,” Gomez reports. “Apple Music will also be altered to integrate the streaming service with music purchases as well as the online radio, sources told Bloomberg.”
Gomez reports, “‘Apple Music is underwhelming,’ BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis told Bloomberg. ‘They have subscribers because of their platform. If you have that kind of subscriber base, you should have millions of subscribers.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The 10-month old Apple Music has surpassed the 13 million subscriber mark, up from the 11 million two months ago.
Yes, it needs work, but those results are hardly underwhelming – especially in the light of the counterintuitive mess that is currently being offered to customers.
As we wrote last July: Apple Music is the very definition of a diamond in the rough.
We have high hopes for WWDC.
SEE ALSO:
Apple Music’s iOS 10 revamp to offer simpler UI, ‘huge artwork,’ and more – May 4, 2016
Apple preps sweeping changes to Apple Music – May 4, 2016
Spotify dims as Apple Music shines – April 27, 2016
Apple Music needs a web widget – March 8, 2016
Yet another example of how Apple Music is messed up – December 16, 2015
Apple admits it has ‘homework to do’ to improve Apple Music – September 3, 2015
Apple Music, both on iOS and OS X, is an embarrassing and confusing mess – July 10, 2015
No.
Only hardware makes a difference to Wall Street and even then, new hardware is as likely to move the needle downwards as it is to move it upwards.
I can’t see anything would get me to subscribe. I get music through amazon as part of prime, and whilst there is enough stuff on there that I could listen 24/7, I just don’t have the time. I have more than enough content available to me already.
Your comment reflects that of many. We are over saturated with content in today’s society.
This is what Apple Music is all about…
It’s about easy access to content you enjoy along with with an excellent way to introduce you to new content that you will probably enjoy.
Like you said… You do not have the time. This is where Apple Music comes in.
As a day 1 subscriber, I’m looking forward to progression.
I hope Apple does the same thing with movies. My GF spends more time browsing through Netflix than watching movies. I usually ask her to just pick something as we could have already watched 1/2 a movie by the time she picks one.
I have about 100 hours of podcasts and radio that I know I would really enjoy, but I just can’t find the time. I have a large collection of music and have the radio on at work which exposes me to a smattering of new stuff. I think it’s going to be a generational thing. I wouldn’t consider myself old, but I have spent money on music, spending more on a regular basis is not getting me anything. Young people who don’t own anything will see value in subscribing because they’re saving themselves that initial expense of buying.
Netflix and other streaming video services are similar. With the amount of original content they’re all now putting out if you subscribed to all of them you’d spend a fortune and be back to the levels cable providers want. Personally, I subscribe to Netflix for a month or two, watch everything they’ve done, then stop it until they’ve released enough new stuff again.
I don’t necessarily think it’s a generation thing, short of the older generation is more reluctant to change.
I have over 300 CDs that I ripped and I just rebuilt my Mac with a fresh OS install. I didn’t bother to put my iTunes library back on. I can access 99% of it without filling up my HD. I may put it back on, but not likely.
The days of local storage are coming to an end.
Older generation will disagree. Newer generation will agree.
People in general, don’t take their music to the gym anymore. They stream over WiFi. Bringing up a fresh playlist of something enjoyable in 1 second is the way of the present and future.
I’m an outlier, but I prefer to listen to free, awesome podcasts (Cernovich, Milo, etc.) than pay a subscription for inferior content. If I want music I can listen to my 31-days-worth of music on iTunes or the free version of Spotify.
Heck, if Apple had just kept Beats Music with their own, minor tweaks they would have a better product than the Frankenstein they have now. I think a bigger problem than the UI and look is the branding itself. “Apple Music” might as well be “Microsoft Music”, it isn’t cool. People can criticize Beats all they want, but it still has a cool factor that Apple can only buy, but even then they axed the brand except for the headphones!
I’m not familiar with your awesome podcasts, but any of the awesome podcasts I listen to are not free. The Maccast for example has a paid podcast and the free version is sponsored by advertisers.
Do your awesome podcasts contain ads? Then they are not free.
Apple feels many of us have $10 per month and will pay. There is a generation of people with a bunch of CDs content on listening to the same music for the rest of their lives and there is a generation of people who have never owned a CD.
Apple is catering to both. There is local storage and ICloud match for those that prefer to own music and Apple Music for those that want to simply listen to and discover music.
Btw, last post, do as you wish and enjoy 😊
Hi Bill, no ads on one, some ads on the other. I support the producers through other means. Free to the consumer is still free, but if you feel better that you’ve payed for it and you like the product, good for you. 🙂
Listen to your podcasts while driving, or walking around.. I listen to HOURS of podcasts during the day, because I listen at 2x, and listen during “dead” times (driving, walking around).
So do I. I listen to about 15 hours of podcasts each week alone. That’s before all the radio shows I want to listen to, all the TV, all the sport, all the time spent on other activities like going out. I listen to some things at a higher speed, but at the same time I want to appreciate the speaker and their voice the way it is supposed to sound. There are only so many hours in the day. It’s going to become impractical to subscribe to a music service, netflix, amazon, etc, etc. Even if you have the disposable income it gets to the point where you just can’t physically get through it all.
No matter how Apple Music grows its revenue and margin are insignificant to Apple’s bottom line. The benefit is in encouraging apple music adopters to buy the high margin hardware.
I’ll never forgive Apple for the steaming piece of crap that is Apple Music. How many people were burned when they’re hard earned music libraries simply disappeared into the cloud? They stole your music and held you hostage to pay them $10per month to access your former library. Not to mention it screwed up the artwork and made entire albums disappear.
Buying Beats Music and installing music “visionary” Jimmy Iovine was the single worst move Apple has made to date. Fifteen years ago they revolutionized digital music….now they are ruining it.
No