Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
Apple Music Turns One Year Old With 15 Million Subscribers on Board and a Redesign on the Way
Today marks the one year anniversary of Apple Music, which launched in 110 countries on June 30, 2015. The streaming music service was initially limited to the Mac and iOS devices, and it has since expanded to Apple TV and Android.
Apple's streaming music service, an evolution of the Beats Music service it acquired in 2014, has steadily gained listeners over the past twelve months, reaching over 15 million paying subscribers as of WWDC 2016 earlier this month.
Spotify still remains the world's most popular streaming music service, with roughly twice as many paying subscribers as Apple Music, but the Swedish rival has been available in Europe for nearly eight years and in the U.S. since 2011.
Assuming that Apple Music maintains its current pace of growth, it is reasonable to assume that it will eventually eclipse Spotify as the top streaming service worldwide, with Apple Music benefiting greatly from its prominent placement within a default app on iOS and a lengthy three-month free trial to get users hooked on the service.
Apple Music has received its share of criticism since launch, partly due to somewhat confusing layouts that can make it difficult to find content and easily manage downloaded or owned content versus streamed content. Apple's "Connect" social feature intended to allow artists to share content with fans also failed to take hold, with many quickly drawing comparisons to the ill-fated "Ping" social network that debuted as part of iTunes in 2010 but was officially canceled just two years later.
With iOS 10, Apple is undertaking a reinvention of the Apple Music experience on its mobile platform, completely revamping the app with new organization and a new design. The new design in particular has been controversial, with bold fonts standing in stark contrast to most of the rest of the operating system. But the new layout makes for a much more logical organization of content and features, with downloaded music receiving its own section and Connect receiving much less prominent placement.
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Apple is also pushing forward its relationships with artists for Apple Music, working hard to secure exclusive content as it seeks to follow the model of "MTV in its Eighties and Nineties heyday" in becoming the go-to place for artists and content.
Apple Music is clearly still in its early days, with Apple still evolving its integration of the Beats Music team and their streaming service into iTunes and the stock Apple user experience across all platforms. But with strong subscriber growth and industry trends pointing toward a continued shift toward streaming services, it's clear this is where Apple's content future lies, whether it be the current music service or future video services.
Apple's streaming music service, an evolution of the Beats Music service it acquired in 2014, has steadily gained listeners over the past twelve months, reaching over 15 million paying subscribers as of WWDC 2016 earlier this month.
Spotify still remains the world's most popular streaming music service, with roughly twice as many paying subscribers as Apple Music, but the Swedish rival has been available in Europe for nearly eight years and in the U.S. since 2011.
Assuming that Apple Music maintains its current pace of growth, it is reasonable to assume that it will eventually eclipse Spotify as the top streaming service worldwide, with Apple Music benefiting greatly from its prominent placement within a default app on iOS and a lengthy three-month free trial to get users hooked on the service.
Apple Music has received its share of criticism since launch, partly due to somewhat confusing layouts that can make it difficult to find content and easily manage downloaded or owned content versus streamed content. Apple's "Connect" social feature intended to allow artists to share content with fans also failed to take hold, with many quickly drawing comparisons to the ill-fated "Ping" social network that debuted as part of iTunes in 2010 but was officially canceled just two years later.
With iOS 10, Apple is undertaking a reinvention of the Apple Music experience on its mobile platform, completely revamping the app with new organization and a new design. The new design in particular has been controversial, with bold fonts standing in stark contrast to most of the rest of the operating system. But the new layout makes for a much more logical organization of content and features, with downloaded music receiving its own section and Connect receiving much less prominent placement.
Apple is also pushing forward its relationships with artists for Apple Music, working hard to secure exclusive content as it seeks to follow the model of "MTV in its Eighties and Nineties heyday" in becoming the go-to place for artists and content.
Apple Music is clearly still in its early days, with Apple still evolving its integration of the Beats Music team and their streaming service into iTunes and the stock Apple user experience across all platforms. But with strong subscriber growth and industry trends pointing toward a continued shift toward streaming services, it's clear this is where Apple's content future lies, whether it be the current music service or future video services.
Tag: Apple Music Guide
[ 107 comments ]
Top Rated Comments
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39 months ago
I have discovered 1741 great new tracks since the start of Apple Music.
I haven't missed Spotify a single moment.
Happy birthday, Apple Music.
I haven't missed Spotify a single moment.
Happy birthday, Apple Music.
39 months ago
Happy Birthday to Apple Music. HOWEVER, please never ever take away my ability to purchase and download. I will never be a subscriber to a music streaming service and my loyalty will reside with the product that best serves my needs - namely, music downloading and cataloging.
39 months ago
I use $4.99 student version - great value for the money, not too sure why people hate on it so much.
39 months ago
I use $4.99 student version - great value for the money, not too sure why people hate on it so much.
I think it has to do with unhappy people feeling better and empowered when they can hate on something, someone, or some company.
39 months ago
The fact that they redesigned just a year after the release doesn't give me a warm & fuzzy feeling about Apple (same with watchOS). It's like they forgot about keeping things simple/streamlined (ie. Scott Forstall/Steve Jobs).
39 months ago
The fact that they redesigned just a year after the release doesn't give me a warm & fuzzy feeling about Apple (same with watchOS). It's like they forgot about keeping things simple/streamlined (ie. Scott Forstall/Steve Jobs).
People like you are the reason why Steve Jobs was remembered and missed, he almost never listened to anyone's opinions.
If Apple Music didn't had a redesign, you'll be saying that "Apple seems to have abandoned it", "they are lazy and don't care", blah blah blah, now that they are doing an overhaul, you say that.
39 months ago
Funny how Apple continues to boast about the number of Apple Music subscribers BUT won't tell us how many watches they've sold.
39 months ago
I just switched from Apple Music to Spotify and holy ****, what a night and day difference. The exploration of new music is VASTLY better, and getting served new music every week that's curated for you is light years ahead of AM.
Holy ****, computer algorithms that tell you to listen to the same crap other people listen too?
Another fancy trick is, I can use any Spotify client to be a remote for another client. I used to AirPlay my music through an AirPort express to my Sony receiver (which skipped like crazy). After ditching the Airport Express because of higher ISP speeds, I just plug my old iPhone 5 into the receiver, fire up Spotify, then use my iPhone 6S to control what's playing on the 5. Yes, it really is THAT simple.
It's called the Remote App.
Oh and plus the upcoming AM redesign looks like they ripped the design straight from the pages of Entertainment Weekly.
Spotify recently ripped Apple Music design, and nobody bitched about it.
39 months ago
I believe that Apple Music and all streaming services are to the long-term detriment of music.
If musicians don't have an incentive to be rewarded, they won't write music. This is why music has been dead since the early 90s. There has been the odd gem, but that's all.
I’ll stick to CDs and downloads to my dying day.
Music isn't obviously dead since the 90s.
Music stopped influencing people, and people started to influence music. Artists don't do what they want, artists do what their brand managers decide to do in comitees with market studies.
The current model is making repetitive crap (not that repetition is bad per se), with more emphasis on stupid videos that the music. This might be the epitome ('https://youtu.be/T6j4f8cHBIM').
Which is a disaster for creativity and expression.
You can stick with what you want, but a couple of people buying a couple of CDs won't change anything.
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