“In an interview published this week, Beats co-founder and Apple Music executive Jimmy Iovine raised vocal opposition to the concept of ‘free’ music, simultaneously arguing that if Apple had a free tier like Spotify, it would ‘have 400 million people on it,'” Roger Fingas reports for AppleInsider.
“‘The fact is that ‘free’ in music streaming is so technically good and ubiquitous that it’s stunting the growth of paid streaming,'” Iovine said to Music Business Worldwide,” Fingas reports. “Iovine complained that many musicians believe there’s little money in recorded music, and in some cases are using it solely for promotion, willing to make sacrifices simply to get exposure and sell concert tickets and merchandise.”
“Iovine further argued that ‘people who pay for subscriptions should be advantaged,'” Fingas reports. “This is part of the reason behind Apple’s recent push into original video content — the company is readying shows like Carpool Karaoke and Planet of the Apps, as well as a slate of documentaries and other exclusives.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We don’t feel particularly “advantaged” by a knockoff melange of Shark Tank and The Voicefocused on App developers and we don’t foresee that sort of derivative crap as attracting Apple Music subscribers. It’s called Apple MUSIC, Jimmy. Carpool Karaoke works. Project Geeklight, er… Planet of the Apps just doesn’t (unless every single app to be pitched is a music app, which we highly doubt). Either change the name of the service or give us Apple Music subscribers as many music-related exclusives as you can possibly manage.
Musicians and the music industry undermine themselves by allowing their music to be streamed by “free,” ad-supported outfits. – MacDailyNews, December 17, 2015
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]