“For music streaming services, which rely on a delicate web of relationships with the artists, publishers, and record labels that supply them, keeping customers satisfied is only half of the equation,” Reggie Ugwu reports for BuzzFeed News. “Viewed from up close, it’s the benefits Apple Music has promised its industry partners — still reeling from decades of digital disruption — that have arguably defined the service’s short life more than anything else.”
“The clash over exclusives, which came to a head just weeks before Apple Music underwent a much-anticipated relaunch designed to make it more appealing to users, served as a reminder that the music service faces a war on two fronts: It’s vying to lure subscribers from a field of strong competitors on the one hand, while defending its aggressive playbook to skittish content owners on the other,” Ugwu reports. “‘We put a lot into this, we’ve had some real successes, and we always hold up our end of the relationship,’ Iovine said, insisting that he has no intention of encroaching on record labels’ territory. ‘We’re feeling our way around and seeing what works … Every time we do [an exclusive], we learn something new.’ He added that Apple Music would move forward with its pursuit of exclusives from other partners, such as Sony Music Entertainment and the Warner Music Group, noting, ‘It’s Apple’s show. As long as Apple’s asking me to do what I’m doing, I’m gonna keep doing it.'”
“The redesign answers criticism that the first iteration was overly complicated, introducing a cleaner interface with larger images and text care of Apple design guru Jonny Ive,” Ugwu reports. “‘We were too ambitious in the beginning — we probably put too much into it,’ said Iovine. ‘But we’re getting there now, one foot in front of the other, and the stuff we’re creating I don’t think anyone is gonna see coming.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We’ve tried them all. The world’s best music streaming service is already Apple Music, by far.
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