Apple's iTunes Division Now Nearly Half the Size of Google's Search Business

[JackieInCo]

or is there simply less music worth listening to ?

I am finding I buy significantly less new music and play the stuff I already own more often.

Everything I've been buying lately is old. I still prefer to play my own music because I can listen yo a whole album where you can't do that on Pandora or iTunes Radio.

I've found myself actually sitting back and LISTENING to music again on my iPad rather than having it on as background noise.

I thank my 128GB iPad Mini for that.

 

[Razeus]

It's a shame what's happening to the music industry. That "declining business" that is iTunes is disheartening. This is probably the last year I'll buy albums and start streaming.

I was going to do it this year (after all, I'm 36 and my knowledge about today's music is severely declining and all the music I loved when growing up, I have), but I still feel like I'm paying for music I already have.

I've been buying albums for so many years, it's just natural to hit the "buy album" button. I continue to buy because I fear some good albums don't be available again especially in other formats. I have several (probably close to 30) albums that STILL aren't available on the iTunes store and probably will never be (ie. Special Ed - Legal, Diamond D - Stunt's Blunts and Hip-Hop, D-Nice - They Call Me D-Nice). These were all hip-hop classics when i grew up, listened to constantly with my friends. They aren't on streaming either. This is why I could never get rid of my collection on CD or m4a format.

I like to hear an artists complete work at a moment in time. Hopefully the concept of an album will live on and "artist" don't simply throw a bunch of songs into a package and call it an "album".

 

[macs4nw]

Yes of course. I used to buy CDs, then moved to itunes and had a large collection. I switched to Spotify a few years ago and havent bought music in at least 2 years now. Everyone I know only uses Spotify or youtube. I doubt most people pay anything for music these days. Probably terrible for the music industry. I would pay more than I do for it because I think it is worth it, but everything is so cheap now. More money for concerts I suppose.

Precisely where now the lion's share of most performers' income is generated, followed by endorsements.

As far as the decline in iTunes revenue is concerned, it was bound to happen. The initial wave of downloads --where people were buying their new music, as well as replacing their back catalogs of CDs, cassettes and vinyl-- after plateauing, is now on the wane, plus as you said, a small but growing number of music lovers has turned to streaming services for their daily music 'fix'.

 

[OGDK]

Apple should focus more on the Mac, and Google should focus less on Google Plus.
Yeah yeah, I know. Apple wants to make profits.

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What apps, other than the ones that come with AppleTV, would you like, that you can control with the remote? Other than media apps, there's not really much to add to the AppleTV, unless they change the input method. And I kinda like the "singular purpose" device that the Apple TV currently is, keeping everything simple.

I dunno, but they asked the same question about the iPhone. There are thousands of future millionaires out there looking for things we might want; no need to worry to much about it ourselves.

For obvious reasons, if they allowed game controllers to connect to the Apple TV and added an App Store…

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That remote has 7 buttons, correct? It's plenty to make a simple 2D platformer like Mario.

Wrong kind of buttons. You'd have to use an iPhone remote or a Bluetooth controller. Nothing wrong with that, but Apple needs to allow GENERIC Bluetooth controllers to work. Sorry, nobody wants to buy a $80 fake PS3 controller.

 

[casperes1996]

Apple should focus more on the Mac, and Google should focus less on Google Plus.
Yeah yeah, I know. Apple wants to make profits.

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I dunno, but they asked the same question about the iPhone. There are thousands of future millionaires out there looking for things we might want; no need to worry to much about it ourselves.

For obvious reasons, if they allowed game controllers to connect to the Apple TV and added an App Store…

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Wrong kind of buttons. You'd have to use an iPhone remote or a Bluetooth controller. Nothing wrong with that, but Apple needs to allow GENERIC Bluetooth controllers to work. Sorry, nobody wants to buy a $80 fake PS3 controller.

Fair point sir.

Interestingly enough, PlayStation controllers work amazingly well on MacOS X. Both PS4 and PS3 controllers work great, with no software needed (at least in Steam and a few Mac App Store games), unlike Windows for instance, where the PS3 controller requires special drivers, and the PS4 one is currently unsupported, as Sony are making the drivers.

 

[OGDK]

Fair point sir.

Interestingly enough, PlayStation controllers work amazingly well on MacOS X. Both PS4 and PS3 controllers work great, with no software needed (at least in Steam and a few Mac App Store games), unlike Windows for instance, where the PS3 controller requires special drivers, and the PS4 one is currently unsupported, as Sony are making the drivers.

Yeah, Macs are surprisingly compatible with game controllers. I've got a fake Xbox 360 controller and want to get a GameCube controller adaptor for Nintendo games.

 

[eliteraspberrie]

It's interesting to watch (from a developer perspective anyway) the competition between the two software revenue models: the App Store model, where consumers pay for software; and the Google model, where software is a free service, but user information is monetized.

There is room for both, but I'm rooting for the App Store model.

 

[unplugme71]

What I found interesting was the significant decline in music revenue. Are listeners moving to streaming services rather than purchasing a track/album outright?

I like to have the music stored locally. What happens if my Internet is down? I can't listen to music. Not cool.

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It's interesting to watch (from a developer perspective anyway) the competition between the two software revenue models: the App Store model, where consumers pay for software; and the Google model, where software is a free service, but user information is monetized.

There is room for both, but I'm rooting for the App Store model.

I don't mind paying as long as it isn't ridiculously priced. Example, 1Password is a very simple app yet costs as much as something very in-depth (iBank, Quicken for Mac, etc).

 

[bretm]

iTunes match

I'm not sure why so many "owners" of music are down on iTunes match. It's one of the best deals I have. So many people that want to own and don't want to pay for match, end up paying $200+ dollars more for both bigger iPads and bigger iPhones. I have a 16gig iPhone, and a 32gig iPad. The only time I have a storage problem is when I shoot too many videos, since I can't delete them immediately because they don't go up into photo stream, and automatically to my iMac. But with the $25/year for match, I can have ALL my music in the cloud, on every device, everywhere all the time. If I want to download some albums to my iPhone for the plane or an area where there won't be cell coverage, I can download them, and I don't have to be hooked up to my iMac. And it also puts all my music in the cloud. Not just the CDs available in the cloud. All the bootlegs, or long gone indie artist CDs from college. If it doesn't have them in iTunes to play, it uploads them from my computers. It's really the best of both worlds. AND, I get free radio because I'm an iTunes match member without ads. Seriously, not much to NOT love for $25 a year.