Eddy Cue 'Thrilled With the Numbers' as Apple Music Hits 11 Million Users

[BJMRamage]

11 Million Free users...or 11 Million users signed up for a FREE Trial...

I have yet to sign up for it. i see no point. they still have iTunes Radio. Also, the genius or recommended stuff (especially movies, like no need to recommend a movie i already have) stinks

 

[jonnyb098]

Let's review these numbers again this October.

Agreed. The number of subscribers at the end of the trial WILL NOT be anywhere near 11 million. My bet is half, so 5-6. Plenty of people are signed up for the trial who barely (or never) use the service. And since 8.4 is such a buggy mess on iPad, I'm comfortably sitting on 8.3 with a smoothly running iPad with a music app that actually isn't rat infested.

And thats sad since the iOS 7/8 music app is nothing to write home about either.

 

[topmounter]

I'm actually surprised. That number seems low considering the free trial and the sheer amount of iTunes users they have. You would think it would be easier to get people to sign up.

I agree. Seems odd to crow about how much free stuff one is able to give away to a mostly captive audience. The interesting number will be how many of those 11M they can convert to paying subs. I'm still on the fence as to whether I'll keep Spotify or Apple Music for my mobile music needs (Hopefully the Android app shows up before the trial ends) in addition to keeping Roon+Tidal for listening to lossless music (my FLAC files + Tidal's lossless streaming) at home.

 

[Harmonious Zen]

I'm actually surprised. That number seems low considering the free trial and the sheer amount of iTunes users they have. You would think it would be easier to get people to sign up.

That was my first reaction too. 11 million is absurdly low considering the number of people with iPhones. Although I suppose not everyone has upgraded to 8.4 yet.

 

[HenryDJP]

Which is another reason why the streaming model (as it currently stands) is awful and unsustainable in the long run. I still remember when people whined about iTunes songs being DRM protected until they stopped in 2009 - AFAIK both Spotify and Apple Music streamed songs saved offline are RDM protected. That's the price of a subscription model. Not saying it's completely bad (though Apple could for example afford to pay twice as much to artists as Spotify they both rip them off) it's great for discovery.

I'm not really quite sure what your post has to do in response to mine, however I will say I wish people would stop pretending that they care so much about the amount the artists get paid or if the artists get paid at all. These "artists" don't give a rats behind about the consumer. Do you truly think they appreciate the customer who spends his last dollar on their records? No. I don't care if we're talking about Indie artists or big label artists. At the end of the day they don't know you're alive and all they want is your money. The shame about it is so many artists are putting out crap music and don't deserve to be paid for it.

Also, it doesn't matter what Apple could afford to pay the artists over Spotify. That's beside the point. You're saying, because a company can afford to do so they should pay more. That's senseless.

 

[Pilgrim1099]

So they reveal the number of subscribers of Apple Music, but don't reveal the number of Apple Watches sold. Do you need any further proof that the Apple Watch has been a big flop by Apple's own high standards?

BINGO! Doesn't that seem bizarre? I noticed that set of double standards they're having. Disturbing.

 

[rfahey79]

I lost interest in Apple Music and don't use it anymore, it's not pleasant to use because of the annoying UI, and discovering new music sucks, the entire thing along with Beats one radio seems to be designed for "popular" music with little to no regard for every other genre/foreign/niche in the world.

But the biggest issue is that there is no 'free' option like Spotify. This is important because: if I take the time to make a playlist as I do with Spotify of albums and songs I like, and I decide to stop paying premium, on Spotify I can still access and listen to it with some limitations. But on Apple music I can't.

Spotify is the true innovator and winner, streaming music services have existed for a long time, the true innovation is free service, and Apple has completely missed the boat. I guess we'll have to wait until the 3-month period is up for Apple to realize its mistake.

Apple a music functions the same way: curate your playlists, then when you decide to stop paying for access to the music you can 1) listen to songs in the playlist that you OWN or 2) pay for the missing songs at $1.29-$.99 a pop. Fail to see the argument here. Want free music, listen to one of the radio stations or create/curate your own (with some limitations). Your argument is vague and not well thought out. Sounds like you're just regurgitating something you heard at the local Starbucks.

 

[rfahey79]

It would be interesting to know how many people have downloaded the latest iOs version. I think Eddy Cue is Apple's Ballmer too.

About 11 million.

 

[navaira]

I would kill to know
1. how many of those 11 million have a smooth ride vs buggy experience from hell
2. how many of those 11 million intend to stick around and pay (I disabled my auto-renewal)
3. how many of those 11 million are actually family accounts (daddy wants AM and adds his wife and four kids because why not, even though two of his kids don't listen to any music and his wife only enjoys obscure soundtracks which are not on AM)

The number by itself means nothing, other than the fact it's curiously low.

 

[Rogifan]

Some of the comments in this thread are exactly why I'm glad Apple isn't releasing Watch sales figures. It also blows a hole in the meme that Apple isn't releasing sales figures because they're not good. We're getting a number for Music which many here are claiming is underwhelming.

 

[OllyW]

how many of those 11 million are actually family accounts (daddy wants AM and adds his wife and four kids because why not, even though two of his

It says 2 million in the article.

"We're thrilled with the numbers so far," says Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet software and services, adding that of that sum 2 million have opted for the more lucrative family plan at $14.99 a month for up to six people.

 

[Rogifan]

BINGO! Doesn't that seem bizarre? I noticed that set of double standards they're having. Disturbing.

Except people here are saying Apple Music figures are underwhelming. If Apple only releases figures when they're good then why are we getting Apple Music figures since they're underwhelming?

 

[Thunderhawks]

But some here think these Apple Music numbers are bad. There is no rule or law that says when Apple has to release sales figures and when it doesn't. Perhaps if they never did with iPad we wouldn't have all the iPad doom and gloom now.

Yes, for Apple 11 million is nothing, especially when it's for FREE stuff.
Something that is really good would be eaten up by the masses for free in 3 digit millions.
(USA alone)
While I personally don't care about any numbers they hit for any device, (Just another mind numbing thing to tuck away in my overloaded brain) I agree that they shouldn't cherry pick.

The funny thing here is to say : Thrilled with 11 Million FREE subscribers.

Maybe they can issue some listing of what means what:

Under 3 million = within forecast
3 million = beyond our expecations
10 million = thrilled
20 million = magical etc.

 

[HenryDJP]

BINGO! Doesn't that seem bizarre? I noticed that set of double standards they're having. Disturbing.

Which is exactly why Apple shouldn't be putting out numbers for anything (other than what the SEC requires), because of such an entitled customer base.

 

[navaira]

It says 2 million in the article.

Yeah, but what I mean is: 2 million family accounts -- does it count as 2 million subscribers, or, say, 6 million subscribers? (I suspect the latter, because I don't think Cue would resist the temptation to, ummmm, slightly enhance the numbers)

 

[OllyW]

Some of the comments in this thread are exactly why I'm glad Apple isn't releasing Watch sales figures. It also blows a hole in the meme that Apple isn't releasing sales figures because they're not good. We're getting a number for Music which many here are claiming is underwhelming.

It was reported that Apple were hoping to get up to 100 million subscribers to Apple Music. If that speculation was true then 11 million signing up to the free trial could be considered to be underwhelming. It was a misleading report though as no timescale was reported but people just remember the headline and react without considering the bigger picture.

 

[tubular]

The main thing Apple Music and the revised Music app did for me was reinforce the already solid conclusion that Apple doesn't know what the hell it's doing with classical music. It made the point so strongly that it encouraged me to find an alternative - Naxos's ClassicsOnline.

So thanks, Apple, for finally having made such a complete bork of the music experience that, for the first time since I bought the third-gen iPod (all 15GB of it) I'm looking elsewhere.

 

[x0vash0x]

Don't click the "Connect" tab, you're in for a shocker...

Yeah, but I can at least disable 'Connect' on iTunes. Can't say the same thing for Spotify. Sure, I don't need to share my music with Facebook, but I also don't want to 'Follow' playlists. I care more about music discovery than anything else. I don't want to have to search for playlists that I like. I want automatically generated playlists based on my musical preferences, which is exactly what Apple Music does. My only complaint is that it tends to focus on entire albums, or artists. Basically, the generated playlists are good, but could be better.

Important detail that you left off from your post: have you used Spotify?

If yes, then you are correct, you're the odd man out. Everyone else who used Spotify previously thinks it's better.

I've used Spotify, and I don't think it's better. Mostly because I think its music discovery sucks. See my comment about for why, but in a nut shell: it doesn't auto generate play lists with the quality that AM does, at least for me.

Yes.

Apple said one of the hardest challenges about the watch was designing an OS for such a small screen. The Galaxy Gear was released September 2013, Apple Watch April 2015. Now it doesn't take an entire year and a half to copy an left swipe, right swipe OS. Basically Apple struggled for the year and a half trying to find reason for the watch to be useful. During this time they racked up huge R&D costs and so they decided to release the product and try to recoup some of those costs instead of digging a deeper hole.

I completely agree with this. The navigation on the Apple Watch is awful. It requires two hands. I think this is the greatest failure of smart watches: their need to be more than notification centers. If I'm going to need two hands to use a device, why not just take out my iPhone?

What a smart watch should be is a simple notification device so you don't have to take you phone out when it vibrates or rings. Give me a notification watch, and i'll be happy.

But, I agree. Apple watch will be like the Apple TV: a hobby.

I would kill to know
1. how many of those 11 million have a smooth ride vs buggy experience from hell
2. how many of those 11 million intend to stick around and pay (I disabled my auto-renewal)
3. how many of those 11 million are actually family accounts (daddy wants AM and adds his wife and four kids because why not, even though two of his kids don't listen to any music and his wife only enjoys obscure soundtracks which are not on AM)

The number by itself means nothing, other than the fact it's curiously low.

1. I haven't had a big issue. I don't have a big music library though. Adding music is a bit slow though.
2. I do
3. Not me

 

[Rogifan]

It was reported that Apple were hoping to get up to 100 million subscribers to Apple Music. If that speculation was true then 11 million signing up to the free trial could be considered to be underwhelming. It was a misleading report though as no timescale was reported but people just remember the headline and react without considering the big picture.

I don't buy any of these rumored figures. It was Wall Street analysts who also 'whispered' right before earnings Apple would sell 50-53M iPhones this last quarter. Apple not beating that bogus whisper number caused a sell off of Apple stock.

 

[Reds622]

I'm not sure why Apple didn't make the music files higher quality... It needed something to differentiate from all of the other services, and surely with the amount of money in the bank Apple could have offered an even better TIDAL service.

But again, like we have seen so many times over the last 2 years or so, it's all about surface level solutions. I.e., the marketing machine is revving up, trying to manipulate it's customer base into thinking it needs a specific service or item.

Either way, I really like TIDAL, but I'm into high quality sound.

 

[x0vash0x]

Don't click the "Connect" tab, you're in for a shocker...

Yeah, but I can at least disable 'Connect' on iTunes. Can't say the same thing for Spotify. Sure, I don't need to share my music with Facebook, but I also don't want to 'Follow' playlists. I care more about music discovery than anything else. I don't want to have to search for playlists that I like. I want automatically generated playlists based on my musical preferences, which is exactly what Apple Music does. My only complaint is that it tends to focus on entire albums, or artists. Basically, the generated playlists are good, but could be better.

Important detail that you left off from your post: have you used Spotify?

If yes, then you are correct, you're the odd man out. Everyone else who used Spotify previously thinks it's better.

I've used Spotify, and I don't think it's better. Mostly because I think its music discovery sucks. See my comment about for why, but in a nut shell: it doesn't auto generate play lists with the quality that AM does, at least for me.

Yes.

Apple said one of the hardest challenges about the watch was designing an OS for such a small screen. The Galaxy Gear was released September 2013, Apple Watch April 2015. Now it doesn't take an entire year and a half to copy an left swipe, right swipe OS. Basically Apple struggled for the year and a half trying to find reason for the watch to be useful. During this time they racked up huge R&D costs and so they decided to release the product and try to recoup some of those costs instead of digging a deeper hole.

I completely agree with this. The navigation on the Apple Watch is awful. It requires two hands. I think this is the greatest failure of smart watches: their need to be more than notification centers. If I'm going to need two hands to use a device, why not just take out my iPhone?

What a smart watch should be is a simple notification device so you don't have to take you phone out when it vibrates or rings. Give me a notification watch, and i'll be happy.

But, I agree. Apple watch will be like the Apple TV: a hobby.

I would kill to know
1. how many of those 11 million have a smooth ride vs buggy experience from hell
2. how many of those 11 million intend to stick around and pay (I disabled my auto-renewal)
3. how many of those 11 million are actually family accounts (daddy wants AM and adds his wife and four kids because why not, even though two of his kids don't listen to any music and his wife only enjoys obscure soundtracks which are not on AM)

The number by itself means nothing, other than the fact it's curiously low.

1. I haven't had a big issue. I don't have a big music library though. Adding music is a bit slow though.
2. I do
3. Not me[/QUOTE]

 

[navaira]

Analysts' figures sucked out of their thumbs are ridiculous. My pet hamster could come up with "analyses" like that by hopping around on the keyboard.

I feel that Spotify feel the Apple Music fire under their buttocks, and it's a very good thing. If Discover Weekly is the first sign of things to come... bring it Apple.

 

[Rettun1]

Signed up for the trial, *played around for 10 minutes* - found it totally confusing and not even close to the Spotify experience - cancelled the subscription 20 minutes later - still I count as a subscriber, because the subscription is valid for the whole 3 months.
So now I have to live without Taylor Swift, but I think I will get over it.

Well, sounds like you gave it a fair shake given that, presumably, you've been using spotify for months. 10 whole minutes? I would have smashed my iPhone at 6! You are so tolerant.

 

[beany boy]

I transferred my Beats subscription over to Apple Music and it has been fun. The problem is I discovered Tidal a few months ago and in my opinion lossless streaming is the only way to go.
Because Tidal is my go to service it is not likely I will continue Apple Music after the trial is over.

 

[The Doctor11]

11 million Apple Music free trial users / 800 million iTunes account holders = ~1.4%

Spotify has 75 million users of which 20 million pay.

Nothing to brag about Eddy.

This is exactly what I was thinking. 11 million is a pretty sad number when in this context.