“This past weekend, Apple Music gained further ground in the ongoing war for streaming music supremacy, debuting two different albums of new work from popular R&B artist Frank Ocean,” Gary Suarez writes for Forbes. “The first of these, a self-described visual album entitled Endless, dropped late Thursday and was swiftly followed on Saturday by the audio-only Blonde. Apart from a handful of pop-up stores where Blonde could be acquired alongside a one-off print magazine, the only legitimate way to consume these records was through Apple.”
“This marks but the latest in a string of notable releases to premiere first and foremost via the service,” Suarez writes. “Other 2016 projects to follow this model include Chance The Rapper’s Coloring Book and Drake’s multi-platinum Views. Not unlike these two successful Apple Music exclusives, Ocean’s Blonde seems certain to make a major first week impression on the Billboard 200 album charts.”
“A function of the company’s broader remit, Apple currently possesses [another] notable competitive advantage over other paid streaming services,” Suarez writes. “As a provider of consumer tech products, the integration of its streaming music service with iTunes, the iPhone and Apple TV makes for a convenient and consistent music experience. Spotify and Tidal lack that infrastructural support, depending entirely on third-parties including Apple to be functional and successful.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Game over. It’s only a matter of time before Apple Music assumes its rightful crown as the world’s No. 1 music streaming service.