My point was more that free users is not a money earner and the fact that they’re not toast doesn’t mean much. They’re alive on somebody else’s dime, not their own business acumen.
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Apple Music's Jimmy Iovine: 'Streaming Services Have a Bad Situation'
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My point was more that free users is not a money earner and the fact that they’re not toast doesn’t mean much. They’re alive on somebody else’s dime, not their own business acumen.
Physical media isn't dead! Vinyl records are becoming more popular because even lossless music files doesn't sound as amazing as vinyl record being played through tube amp. You also can't display a music file on a wall or in a collection.
In my opinion Apple would have kicked Spotify's ass a long time ago if it could just copy its interface. Its so damn frustrating use Apple's music programs. Apple is all about being different but sometimes you don't need to fix what isn't broken.
In my opinion Apple would have kicked Spotify's ass a long time ago if it could just copy its interface. Its so damn frustrating use Apple's music programs. Apple is all about being different but sometimes you don't need to fix what isn't broken.
Depends what for. I prefer Spotify for finding music - it's fast to navigate, it has a truely incredible recommendations algorithm that Apple can't get remotely close to and it has great playlists. But once i've found stuff I prefer to manage a music library in iTunes with full artwork, properly organised tags how I want and mixed with streaming and rare music I've ripped and collected myself, Spotify just can't do that bit.
Jimmy doesn't get it.
Spotify sells a product Amazon and Apple can't touch: music discovery. People like finding new music that suits their taste, and Spotify's algorithms are miles beyond the competition. People are willing to pay for that, and will be loyal to that.
Spotify sells a product Amazon and Apple can't touch: music discovery. People like finding new music that suits their taste, and Spotify's algorithms are miles beyond the competition. People are willing to pay for that, and will be loyal to that.
Oh dear...
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Totally agree with that (as per my comment above) and it's the reason i subscribe to both Spotify and Apple Music. There stuff each one does the other doesn't, I can't lose Spotify for it's discovery stuff alone.
All streaming music services are alive on somebody else's dime, including Apple Music.
Mr Iovine is assuming that he is the clever kid in the bloc and that Spotify are dumb? He sure as hell aint giving free advice to AppleMusic's major competitor. This is just a publicity stunt and a pathetic attempt to make a competitor appear weaker than they actually are. What Mr Iovine is not thinking about is customers like me who think that AppleMusic is a garbage piece of software just like iTunes. So much so that I didnt even stick with the free trial that they gave me but went straight back to pay for Spotify. Before discovering Spotify I paid for about 200 song downloads from Apple. Since Spotify I have never purchased any songs from Apple. And I bet I am not alone.
What kills me is that Iovine is right, Apple can simply leverage their other revenue streams to undercut Spotify and put them out of business, and eventually, they probably will. This gives apple no incentive to build a truly great music service, and that sucks because I truly believe they could if they wanted to, but why bother?
Iovine makes a good point about the sustainability of a business like Spotify. What makes me angry about this is that Spotify, at least for me personally is a vastly superior service. The recommendations and auto-generated playlists are so good I largely stopped making my own. It's available in many places Apple Music is not, and where it is I vastly prefer the Spotify UI. I understand that Apple had this great idea of putting the music you stream and the music you own in the same place, but for me, they never really pulled it off in a way that made sense.
Iovine makes a good point about the sustainability of a business like Spotify. What makes me angry about this is that Spotify, at least for me personally is a vastly superior service. The recommendations and auto-generated playlists are so good I largely stopped making my own. It's available in many places Apple Music is not, and where it is I vastly prefer the Spotify UI. I understand that Apple had this great idea of putting the music you stream and the music you own in the same place, but for me, they never really pulled it off in a way that made sense.
Could it be that Iovine is disparaging Streaming services because he has a financial stake in Apple's non-streaming service.
There is an old saying "follow the money." it applies to political corruption and to rationals to what people are saying to the press.
There is an old saying "follow the money." it applies to political corruption and to rationals to what people are saying to the press.
I agree with you that physical media isnt dead despite Apple attempts to kill it so they can make more profits by selling full price albums. Because a CD can be sold second hand for a lot cheaper whereas downloaded music cant (not legally anyway).
However, vinyl records are not becoming more popular because "nothign sounds as amazing as a vinyl played throguh tube amp". In fact I'd go as far as to say that tube amps are becoming extinct and a very tiny niche market. Vinyl is becoming popular again because of nostalgia and a lot of "oldies" blowing their pensions on vinyl to re-live their youth. give it another generation or so and vinyl will very likely become as niche as cassettes have nowadays. A shame but such is life...
This thread is full of people who have never worked in the music industry, trying to tell someone who has made millions in the music industry and is one of the best known names in that industry, that he doesn't understand that industry. It's hilarious.
Apple Music executive Jimmy Iovine sat down for an interview recently with Billboard to talk about The Defiant Ones, a four-part documentary series that focuses on the careers of both Iovine and his long-time partner Dr. Dre.
During the interview, Iovine commented on the state of the streaming music industry and the precarious position of companies focused solely on streaming music, like Spotify.Streaming music, says Iovine, is "fine" with major companies like Amazon, Apple, and Google, but it's "not a great business" for standalone companies like Spotify. "They have to figure out a way to show the road to making this a real business," he said.
Iovine went on to explain that the record industry doesn't yet know "where technology is gonna go," and that things could shift at any moment with the debut of software and hardware breakthroughs. Referencing the 8-track, cassette tape, and CD, Iovine says companies need to adapt and "figure out their role."
According to Iovine, streaming services that offer content for free undermine the music industry and present a major problem that's not something television providers like Netflix have to deal with. Streaming services all offer the same general content, making it difficult to convince customers to pay when content is available elsewhere at no cost.Iovine's opinion on free music is likely one of the reasons why Apple is focusing heavily on exclusive content. Apple has purchased the rights to air multiple exclusive documentaries, and the company is working on exclusive television shows much like Netflix, with the aim of drawing in customers with original content.
So far, two shows have premiered exclusively on Apple Music: Planet of the Apps and Carpool Karaoke: The Series. Apple has other television shows in the works, including an Amazing Stories reboot with Steven Spielberg and a morning talk show drama that will star Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. Apple has not yet confirmed these new shows will be exclusive to Apple Music, but it's a possibility, and it's also possible Apple is planning on some kind of future service that offers both music and television content.
Jimmy Iovine's full interview, which goes into further detail on streaming services and covers The Defiant Ones, can be read over at Billboard.
Article Link: Apple Music's Jimmy Iovine: 'Streaming Services Have a Bad Situation'
Digital music sales have become an acceptable loss leader for the big tech industries. Just like milk, sugar and bread are the traditional loss leaders for the big supermarkets like Walmart or Sainsbury's (in the Uk).
The big tech companies don't need to turn a profit on music sales. Music is the attraction to the market place, encouraging the purchase of the higher priced, better margined products they produce. If Apple give away music (That is someone else's product) for a rock bottom price, what do they care? They're using these music sales to sell an iPhone, that they make 200% + profit on. Just like a supermarket selling cheap Milk, to help sell expensive yogurt. Its the same financial model. Just with music. Music that we love. That we have grown up with. That has been devalued.
Yeah, but I have more faith that AM could be profitable on their own than Spotify because Spotify is apparently losing money on Free Users. It has a negative profit margin on free users according to one report.
When I was 18, a pint of beer was .70p and a vinyl single was .99p. I'm now 51 and a pint of beer is £5.50 and Digital download of a single is .99p. The music industry was stoned, while the tech revolution took them for everything they had. Essentially the music industry lost control and they now need to grow some balls and get inventive and fight back creatively. Frank Zappa would have a lot to say about this. I love Spofity. But then, I'm not a musician.
"Leaner run Spotify." You know Spotify isn't profitable right? They lost $581.4 million in 2016. That's more than double the previous year. Spotify can't continue seeing those type of losses if they want to become a viable company in the future.
That's pretty much Apple's spiel/modus operandi, isn't it?
Their hardware is a high value luxury item, and everyone else's music, movies, and apps are just low-value commodities that are sold/rented as cheaply as possible. (Others') low margin content sells (their) high margin hardware.
Their hardware is a high value luxury item, and everyone else's music, movies, and apps are just low-value commodities that are sold/rented as cheaply as possible. (Others') low margin content sells (their) high margin hardware.
If Spotify is losing $500+ million a year, then it won't survive in the long term. It can't. However the music industry, the producers, can't let the market place be just AM. They will never trust Apple, even with a music producer like Iovine at the helm.
Like Apple would ever drop their price. More likely scenario would be to raise it.
There is great Apple original content on AM, like the 808 documentary, Give me Future and many others.
Always better to try and actually know something about a subject before judging, but I know it’s asking much.
I see Iovine's point, and he is right; Streaming alone is not an easy businesss to make money in.
The nice thing about streaming is that the internet and tech is decreasing the friction and infrastructure required to make music; even exposure is becoming easier, with algorithms that can suggest songs based on what you like and what others like. There is no reason a high level album cannot be made in a relatively cheap home studio, hit it big, and be bankrolled by streaming companies for exclusivity, or even the band itself. That being said, its pretty difficult, but hey, it always been.
There will probably continue to be megastars, and independent hits for the forseeable future, but the megastars will be more polished, and independent hits more independent.
In terms of ways for the record industry to make cash, well, it will be just like movies; big stars, big productions. They won't be able to compete on the lower end anymore.
In terms of ways for bands to make money; LPs, concerts, lossless files, and limited edition pressings will always be appreciated by fans.
I think streaming is here to stay, but not as in independent service. Theres just no way to sustain it. If the record companies had banded together and made their own streaming service, with algorithms, and actually had user interest/streaming subscription in mind over their old model of record sales they probably would have been fine.
The nice thing about streaming is that the internet and tech is decreasing the friction and infrastructure required to make music; even exposure is becoming easier, with algorithms that can suggest songs based on what you like and what others like. There is no reason a high level album cannot be made in a relatively cheap home studio, hit it big, and be bankrolled by streaming companies for exclusivity, or even the band itself. That being said, its pretty difficult, but hey, it always been.
There will probably continue to be megastars, and independent hits for the forseeable future, but the megastars will be more polished, and independent hits more independent.
In terms of ways for the record industry to make cash, well, it will be just like movies; big stars, big productions. They won't be able to compete on the lower end anymore.
In terms of ways for bands to make money; LPs, concerts, lossless files, and limited edition pressings will always be appreciated by fans.
I think streaming is here to stay, but not as in independent service. Theres just no way to sustain it. If the record companies had banded together and made their own streaming service, with algorithms, and actually had user interest/streaming subscription in mind over their old model of record sales they probably would have been fine.
Apple's content is the digital version of dad dancing.
We have a dozen apple products in the house. Apple Music gets tried every year as a test, but Airplay cannot compete with Spotify Connect for user experience so Spotify wins.
They should stick to hardware and os.
We have a dozen apple products in the house. Apple Music gets tried every year as a test, but Airplay cannot compete with Spotify Connect for user experience so Spotify wins.
They should stick to hardware and os.
