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a7thton

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 30, 2015
70
16
USA
None of the following services have apps for the new Apple TV:
  • Spotify
  • Rdio
  • Google Play Music
  • Rhapsody
  • Pandora
  • Slacker Radio
  • Tidal
  • Deezer
  • I Heart Radio
  • Soundcloud
  • Band Camp
  • Sirius/XM
  • NPR
  • Amazon Music
Does anyone have any ideas why this is?
 
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Apple Music

That's great, if you subscribe to AM. Many, if not most, Apple users do not.

My larger question is: many app/game creators had enough time to create ATV apps and have them ready at launch. Isn't it weird that NONE of the major music streaming companies have apps, even a week or so after the launch?
 
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That's great, if you subscribe to AM. Many, if not most, Apple users do not.

My larger question is: many app/game creators had enough time to create ATV apps and have them ready at launch. Isn't it weird that NONE of the major music streaming companies have apps, even a week or so after the launch?

It's business. I don't know whether apple is blocking them or they're refusing to create one in order to drive users to their device, but it isn't because they're lazy and haven't gotten around to it yet.

And I agree. I'd love to have Spotify and Amazon music. I didn't like Apple Music.
 
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I bet they will come soon. They had less than 2 months of development time to develop what is essentially a whole new app. For music, I don't think the smartphone UI will really translate well to TV and thus requires quite a bit of thought and trial. I would be shocked if Spotify wasn't working on a tvOS app.

Read the Plex blog post about their new app, and how it took a tremendous effort to get their app out in time, and even they admit it's far from finished.

Give it time. I would rather they release a good well-thought-out and natively-coded app, rather than just porting their web app over as fast as possible.
 
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That's great, if you subscribe to AM. Many, if not most, Apple users do not.

My larger question is: many app/game creators had enough time to create ATV apps and have them ready at launch. Isn't it weird that NONE of the major music streaming companies have apps, even a week or so after the launch?


Many of the bigger content providers that Apple works with got in early on the development of the sdk for TvOS.

The rest have had a few months with the sdk and many didn't even get their hands on a device until it launched.

I doubt, though I could be wrong, Apple would have brought in the likes of Spotify and the rest early to get a leg up on development.

I don't think they will prevent the other services from making their apps available. If they were that petty they wouldn't get on iOS either. But I don't think they'll make it easy for them either. In the end I think it will boil down to the content providers themselves and whether or not they want to make apps for it.
 
I feel like Apple is holding off on approving them for a short period of time (like a week maybe?) to let Music stand out for a minute. I'm sure we'll see at least Pandora and Spotify arriving soon.
 
Apple music is brilliant.

I agree. While driving I can 'hey siri' my apple watch to play whatever I want through my car's audio system. Wonderfully integrated. I have a spotify premium account free for 2 years and I still have no problem paying the $10 per month for apple tv
 
No I don't. The device came out less then a week ago... Yeah kits came out. But that doesn't mean that everything is going to be available on day one. Plex just came out. Some developers might want to see with the adoption rate is, so they can see if it's worth developing an app for.
 
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I think the lack of background audio support might be the biggest reason. I could be wrong, but once you exit an app, the content stops playing (audio and - obviously - video). Apple Music or local iTunes (Home Sharing) music being the exception.

I remember when the Beats app was on the Apple TV it could only play music if you had the app open.
 
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I use the radio feature on my old ATV3 a lot.

Does the ATV4 still have it?

Nope. It has the new Apple Music app. It basically has everything that is on other iOS devices.

There is an app called myTuner that you can get from the App Store though.
 
I think the lack of background audio support might be the biggest reason. I could be wrong, but once you exit an app, the content stops playing (audio and - obviously - video). Apple Music or local iTunes (Home Sharing) music being the exception.

I remember when the Beats app was on the Apple TV it could only play music if you had the app open.

This is incorrect. If you play music with Plex you can hold down the menu button to jump to the home screen and the music keeps playing.
 
If Apple was blocking these apps we'd have heard about it by now. I already downloaded Mixcloud and a couple other apps similar to TuneIn.
 
None of the following services have apps for the new Apple TV:
  • Spotify
  • Rdio
  • Google Play Music
  • Rhapsody
  • Pandora
  • Slacker Radio
  • Tidal
  • Deezer
  • I Heart Radio
  • Soundcloud
  • Band Camp
  • Sirius/XM
  • NPR
  • Amazon Music
Does anyone have any ideas why this is?
No, but I'll wildly speculate that Apple is purposely blocking their apps just to push their streaming music solution. Does this make me an Internet tech "journalist" now? :cool:
 
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Nope. It has the new Apple Music app. It basically has everything that is on other iOS devices.

There is an app called myTuner that you can get from the App Store though.

I only listen with the ATV3's radio feature... and only on 3 New York City FM stations.(I'm in a different state)

Is Apple Music free? Does it still carry most of those radio stations?
 
None of the following services have apps for the new Apple TV:
  • Spotify
  • Rdio
  • Google Play Music
  • Rhapsody
  • Pandora
  • Slacker Radio
  • Tidal
  • Deezer
  • I Heart Radio
  • Soundcloud
  • Band Camp
  • Sirius/XM
  • NPR
  • Amazon Music
Does anyone have any ideas why this is?


I was about to start a thread asking if Siri can perform similar music streaming tasks as OK Google or Alexa as in "play WABC radio on Tune In" but first I must ask for an update, please report back that all of those apps listed above including Tune In are now available on the Apple TV 4 and if so does Siri hold up to the same tasks as OK Google and Alexa?
 
I feel most people don't want to watch music anymore. They seeem to want to have music in the background for family gatherings, parties etc. So a steaming music is handeled by some music stream in the Pluto Streaming App.
 
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I was about to start a thread asking if Siri can perform similar music streaming tasks as OK Google or Alexa as in "play WABC radio on Tune In" but first I must ask for an update, please report back that all of those apps listed above including Tune In are now available on the Apple TV 4 and if so does Siri hold up to the same tasks as OK Google and Alexa?
Nope. Over a year later and music apps still aren't there.

I have a few theories:
  1. They don't consider the market big enough to devote any development time to and think just offering people airplay ability from some other device is good enough.
  2. Apple wants a cut of the subscription price and they aren't willing to do it.
  3. Or Apple is somehow otherwise putting up roadblocks.
Those are the only reasons I could think of as there has certainly been enough time. I not only miss Google Play Music and Spotify, but I also wish Google photos and Google movies were there as well. Vudu would be nice too.

Right now the box seems so crippled and lacking in what it could and should be able to do. Like so many things with Apple these days, it's rather disappointing. It doesn't even display a freaking clock somewhere on the screen without a seperate app. Despite even the most recent software update, it still seems like an unfinished work in progress rather than a product for sale.
 
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