Apple Music Was Second Biggest Global Music Streaming Service in 2019

[justme1]

No sane person bought a HomePod.

Thank you for your insight into my sanity

 

[Expos of 1969]

To be fair, it's not the fault of the user, 10$ a month it's 120$ a year, it's way more than what people put in CD every year even during the 2000 CD boom
So the problem is somewhere else

I don't think you are (were) much of a music lover if you or think others spent far less than $ 120 a year on CDs. That would only be enough to purchase about 6 to 10 CDs.

 

[Manuphoto]

because you like to enjoy inferior sound quality doesn’t mean others do too

After doing a (relatively) thorough test, I found that saying that Tidal sounds better than Apple Music is snobbism and simple BS.



A few months ago, I ran a blind test with two friends. We used better than average audio gear, certainly better than what you average listener uses (ie the earphones that came with the phone): Sennheiser HD 280 Pro for the headphone tests, Marrantz PM8006 receiver on a pair of Paradigm speakers. So, nothing super high end but very decent, in a proper room. Basically better conditions than most music is listened to 90% of the time IMHO.



The music was played from computer connected to the Marrantz or the headphones. We were three people: one to run the test, two to listen.



We listened to everything, from 60’s rock to classical music, electro, hip hop, acoustic. Recordings from every era possible.



Our sources were CD, Tidal and Apple Music. The same track, each time. The music was chosen so that I knew some recordings but not all, same for the other tester. We had no way to know what was the source each time.



We did three sessions over three days, to hear everything as clearly as possible. We noted our impressions: sound separation, lows, mediums and highs, voice reproduction, the global clarity, etc. Basically everything that we thought of while listening. And then choosing a “better” track at the end of it. Everything on paper, I didn’t know what he wrote, he didn’t know what I wrote, for the whole test.



In the end, it was a tie. On a whole, we had “winner” tracks from all three sources and “losers” too.



Our impression was that the editing and sound mastering mattered a lot more than lossy vs lossless compression, at least compared to AAC at 256kbps. Of course, if your experience with compressed music is Napster’s era MP3 at 128kbps, you wouldn’t think that.



Some tracks sounded “better” on the CD, some on Apple Music and some on Tidal. Compression didn’t seem to be an issue, at least not to our ears. But the choice of “master” track and how well it was prepared for the final output (CD, lossless or compressed, each with its own properties) seemed to matter more than any other criteria.



So they can all sound good, even great, and on average they are all very capable and you should pick the one you prefer according to tracks choice, interface, etc. But saying that one sounds better than the other is, according to our findings, just false.

 

[triangletechie]

If Apple had stations like Pandora that allowed you to curate them with thumbs up/down I would use AM a whole lot more.

I also have Amazon Music. $79 per year is a great deal.

 

[CatalinApple]

I don't understand why anyone would use Apple music when family sharing requires everyone be on the same AppleID family account with one person in control of everyone's AppleID accounts.

That's a hard deal-breaker for me. Apple needs to realize that in the 21st century we have progressive families that aren't ruled by a patriarch. And many family households have multiple adults who want autonomy over their own things.

I guess Apple Music is good for people who live alone. Just like HomePod.
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This logic makes no sense. So Tidal is not for you, it's also not for me, but why does their lack of success bring you great joy? Why does Tidal have such a premium space in your mind? I don't care one way or the other how Tidal is doing, I just ignore it and don't think about it.

🤣. I, my mother and my sister use Apple's Family Sharing features and they do have their own Apple ID's. I invited them to family sharing but they do have their own Apple IDs and can do whatever they please. So where did you get this misinformation that one family has to use one Apple ID?

 

[Mayostudent]

Qobuz with Roon frontend is by far the best route to go. All others are a joke.

 

[boswald]

I use and prefer Apple Music, but congratulations to Spotify.

 

[ingambe]

I don't think you are (were) much of a music lover if you or think others spent far less than $ 120 a year on CDs. That would only be enough to purchase about 6 to 10 CDs.

I’m not talking of myself but of the average consumer
120$ on average it’s a lot !
Not a lot of people back then bought more than 120$ of CD each year!

 

[SpringKid]

Ability to play from a browser is a standout feature for me so no need to install a bloated app. Pretty much all the major players Spotify, Google, Soundcloud, etc. have it except for Apple Music.

 

[mrochester]

I don't think you are (were) much of a music lover if you or think others spent far less than $ 120 a year on CDs. That would only be enough to purchase about 6 to 10 CDs.

6 to 10 cds a year sounds like an awful lot to me! I doubt an average user gets anywhere near that. Streaming services are definitely extracting more revenue from users than previous.

 

[laz232]

That's a hard deal-breaker for me. Apple needs to realize that in the 21st century we have progressive families that aren't ruled by a patriarch. And many family households have multiple adults who want autonomy over their own things.

To quote an internet meme - "I don't think you know what that word means". Verbatim from https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201060#subscriptions
"One adult in your household—the family organizer—chooses a feature for your family to share and invites family members to join. "

nothing about males, and therefore your dramatic use of the word patriarch appears rather gratuitous.
People that want autonomy over their own things may naturally be expected to pay for what they consume...
I did not realise that music streaming services had been added to the UN charter of basic human rights.

FWIW on topic I pay for Spotify, as I always liked their dark theme and know that it works cross-platform without iTunes on Windows.
Before that I had used Tidal due to a free subscription from my ISP here in Scandanavia - sad to see they are in the single digits - but once Apple got into the game, they had no chance...
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6 to 10 cds a year sounds like an awful lot to me! I doubt an average user gets anywhere near that. Streaming services are definitely extracting more revenue from users than previous.

I still buy about 6-8 CDs per year - mainly at concerts though. If it's music I like I want to own it - not "get a license to it" to be withdrawn whenever the label gets into an argument with the providers...

 

[RowellE]

because you like to enjoy inferior sound quality doesn’t mean others do too

I’m talking about myself. I said “me” in the post. So you can ****.

 

[FaustsHausUK]

To be fair, it's not the fault of the user, 10$ a month it's 120$ a year, it's way more than what people put in CD every year even during the 2000 CD boom
So the problem is somewhere else

Oh I agree - I’m not blaming users. I don’t really blame people working for these companies, either. Their CEOs though? Way over-compensated.

 

[jasonefmonk]

A married couple can't even trust each other with a shared Apple ID? I agree the whole family sharing stuff is clunky and confusing, which is why my family just shares one single account, but this is a strange complaint.

Emphasis mine.

Family Sharing is much less “clunky” then sharing an Apple ID. You will regret the decision to share the ID when you end up with calls and messages arriving on the wrong device or personal data being deleted from contacts, calendars, and photos, accidentally by the other users.

if you don’t want to spend on someone else’s credit card as part of a Family Share just buy iTunes cards for that user.

 

[Expos of 1969]

I’m not talking of myself but of the average consumer
120$ on average it’s a lot !
Not a lot of people back then bought more than 120$ of CD each year!

We lived in very different worlds it seems. 20 years ago when there was no streaming, buying a CD every one or two months was nothing. One a week was more normal for people who liked music. Out of curiosity, where did you live in 2000 and how old were you?

 

[mrochester]

We lived in very different worlds it seems. 20 years ago when there was no streaming, buying a CD every one or two months was nothing. One a week was more normal for people who liked music. Out of curiosity, where did you live in 2000 and how old were you?

cant say I’ve ever heard of anyone buying that much music before!

 

[Techwatcher]

Spotify rightfully at #1. Don't know why anyone would use anything else.. especially Apple Music?

Tidal HiFi user here. I've used Apple Music, Spotify Premium, Amazon Music HD, and Tidal HiFi. Tidal is the best of the 4 in my opinion. In addition, its integration with Plex is game changing. But those are features that an average consumer of music wouldn't care about, I get it lol.

 

[TomaxXamot]

I had a huge iTunes library that seamlessly transitioned to Apple Music. (I recall this not being true for everyone unfortunately, but that’s my experience.)

It’s been some time, but what I remember completely turned me off from Apple Music was that it wanted to upload all 100gb of locally stored music that I’ve accumulated over the years (a ton of rare electronic music, remixes and live DJ mixes) to an iCloud Music Library and then delete it all from local storage. I just want my own music stored locally on my phone (that’s why I bought a 256gb iPhone) and stream Apple Music tracks as desired. I only need to access it all on this one device. Don’t know why they had to make it way more complicated than it needed to be.

 

[DeepIn2U]

It gives me great joy to know that Tidal is in “Other.”

Hmmm, and why is that?

I like the genres it provides, however I've yet to subscribe or use it as of yet. Mostly because I don't have headphones yet to enjoy lossless quality music - WH-1000XM3's have been given to my son who composes music and needed a replacement to his damaged headphones.

Spotify rightfully at #1. Don't know why anyone would use anything else.. especially Apple Music?

reason I chose Apple Music:
- able to load music on my Apple Watch (including playlists) to listen to music during workouts at my gym or for covid-19 isolate walkabouts in my quite 'hood. Spotify watch app is just a remote control to the iPhone which I leave in my locker (no Wi-Fi at the gym).

And this is a fault of Spofity.

Apple going forward needs to do 3 major things:
1. Feature Lossless music quality (at least in iTunes / Music on Windows/Mac ; and alternative for iPhone users.
2. Feature more impromptu and/or intimate interviews of artists ... not what currently is happening but maybe show an artist on how they created their latest charting track? Allow artists to upload their own videos scoops?
3. MUCH better music playlist "For You" algorithm implementation.

Bonus: Become a publisher for budding artists. I cannot fathom just how incredible it would be for Garageband or Logic users to publish their music to iTunes and use that as a revenue stream. This may tick off EMI, Sony Music group, etc but it would be HUGE!

 

[blairh]

Finally made the jump from iTunes Match to Apple Music. I love it! 😃

 

[DeepIn2U]

I tried Apple Music and no matter how many times I told it not to play pop/r&b/rap, it would always shove some random song in with its curated play list. Dropped it after 2 months and went back to Spotify.

This!

Apple needs to feature curated playlists from 'DJs" of various genre's ... not just HipHop/R&B/Pop.

PS: Hip-Hop is something artists do, Rap is something they live (lifestyle)

Is there a central place we can all add feedback to Apple where Eddie Cue and many others at Apple actually listen?
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Spotify is available on both Apple Watch and Apple TV and is integrated with Siri, you just need to say “Hey Siri, play X on Spotify”. I have used both AM & Spotify simultaneously for about 9 months and could not find a compelling enough reason to drop Spotify.

Spotify Watch App is just a remote control. Not all Apple Watch users have an LTE version, and not all want a remote control to their iPhone

 

[StoneJack]

But Spotify, unlike the others, are in red, so its bankrupsy is close, perhaps. They reported a operating loss of -77 million dollars in 2019. Well, they don't pay much to artists, so they are still making money, I guess.

 

[ingambe]

We lived in very different worlds it seems. 20 years ago when there was no streaming, buying a CD every one or two months was nothing. One a week was more normal for people who liked music. Out of curiosity, where did you live in 2000 and how old were you?

Are you foreign to the concept of statistics ?
Sorry, but you are not the center of the world

Here are official statistics for the year 2002 to 2012: https://www.statista.com/statistics/191044/us-consumer-spending-on-recorded-music-since-2002/

It was 53 dollars on average, so less than half the annual price of streaming services (120$)

Even the best year in history for music sales (1999) reached a peak of only 73$

So yes, 120$ it's already a lot

 

[BMox81]

Nothing against AM as I’ve got the family sub, I just like the fact my music and podcasts are all in the one app that you get with Spotify.

That and the cross platform functionality you get with Spotify and Google make those preferred options for me.

 

[DevNull0]

🤣. I, my mother and my sister use Apple's Family Sharing features and they do have their own Apple ID's. I invited them to family sharing but they do have their own Apple IDs and can do whatever they please. So where did you get this misinformation that one family has to use one Apple ID?

To be clear, can they buy apps billed to their own credit cards while you bill apps separately to a different payment method?