Sony Music CEO Confirms 'Apple Music' Unveiling at WWDC

[usamaah]

The problem with it becoming the tipping point for stream vs d/l is the data use on a mobile device. If you stream music regularly you will really hit data caps or need a larger cap, unless you have wifi access. In addition, it means no music when you can't stream, such as when flying unless you want to pay for wifi where it is available.

I'd like to see a two option model: buy the song outright or be able to stream and download with the d/ls only playable while you have an active subscription. They could auto-expire after a certain number roof days and whenever you connect to the server automatically extend the date to your next renewal date.

What you're asking for, Google offers. Of course I think everyone here will complain that Google will track your music listening, and Apple doesn't.

So if Apple's smart, they will offer the ability to download albums for use offline and that'll be fine as long as your subscription remains active.

I love Google Music All Pass by the way. I can use it on PC, Mac, iOS and Android devices.

 

[Wreckus]

They don't seem to care about Samsung Pay...

True.

 

[usamaah]

LOL wonder how Google would like this since Samsung is using Android.

Considering Google has their own service, they'd welcome the competition. As should we, because it might mean better features for us.

 

[daijholt]

Apple wants 10 a month from you. Sorry apple, I don't do subs for music.

So you don't feel this is good value for money? Even though a single album will set you back £10 and that's all you get, whereas a service like this lets you listen to millions of songs 24/7 for the same price?

 

[Soni Sanjay]

Just because he doesn't stream, it doesn't mean he's in delusional state.
I know a few people who stream for free, some pay for it, I sometimes do, but most of my music are offline.

It's an offensive word to state someone as such when he's using his device differently than yours.

No, it is stupid and offensive to say "no one cares" when clearly facts state otherwise. I don't care if he streams or not, I dislike people stating "No one cares" just because they don't.

 

[Soni Sanjay]

And now i stand corrected! apple is gonna make dent in the universe with "another music streaming service" with new revolutiinary feature: it wont be free. Right?

No, it won't, but it might be better. Time will tell if this is another iTunes or if this is another Ping, but right now, people care about streaming music, they don't want to pay, but they do care about it.

 

[HenryDJP]

Do developers care about this?

Not everything over the years at WWDC has been in honor of developers.

 

[QCassidy352]

So you don't feel this is good value for money? Even though a single album will set you back £10 and that's all you get, whereas a service like this lets you listen to millions of songs 24/7 for the same price?

It's not a good value for me, as I have a large library of music (including the stuff I like best and keep coming back to) and download maybe a couple of new songs per month. If your choices are between downloading several albums per month or this, and you expect to go on downloading several albums per month indefinitely, then this is a good deal.

 

[daijholt]

Perhaps lots of us live in caves. Or think 10 bucks a month is (takes off socks to aid multiplication) hmm quite a lot per year. Subscription services are insidious, Adobe loves them, M$ is starting to love them, Apple appears now to love them too. When I tried to 'upgrade' to the latest Photos app it very quickly explained how much it wanted me to pay every month to keep 36 pictures of my cat, I declined, I still have the cat, I can take another picture of her tomorrow.

I have the music I bought. Podcasts still exist (no really they still do and they are FREE). I'm never going to sign up for a daily/weekly/monthly/annual fee for listening to music not at 10 a month, 5 a month or 2 a month.

The reason streaming subscriptions have become popular with companies is because they make more money out of them, which means they are worse for you Mr Joe Consumer. If that's what it costs to consume music, I will stop consuming it.

So £10 to access 25 million songs anytime, anywhere, is worse for me than spending £10 for a single album of 10 songs?

I don't see the cost efficiency here.

Maybe I don't directly own the music I'm streaming, but it's irrelevant, because as long as they continue to make money those sins won't be going anywhere anyway.

 

[Wreckus]

I think its safe to say that the subscription model is not for everyone, which is absolutely fine. I doubt apple is expecting everyone (though they probably hope) to subscribe for 10 bucks a month. But at least its another option for everyone to listen to music for a great price.

 

[Soni Sanjay]

Perhaps lots of us live in caves. Or think 10 bucks a month is (takes off socks to aid multiplication) hmm quite a lot per year. Subscription services are insidious, Adobe loves them, M$ is starting to love them, Apple appears now to love them too. When I tried to 'upgrade' to the latest Photos app it very quickly explained how much it wanted me to pay every month to keep 36 pictures of my cat, I declined, I still have the cat, I can take another picture of her tomorrow.

I have the music I bought. Podcasts still exist (no really they still do and they are FREE). I'm never going to sign up for a daily/weekly/monthly/annual fee for listening to music not at 10 a month, 5 a month or 2 a month.

The reason streaming subscriptions have become popular with companies is because they make more money out of them, which means they are worse for you Mr Joe Consumer. If that's what it costs to consume music, I will stop consuming it.

Again dude, you missed the point. I know lots of people who love streaming, and I also know people who would not rent music even if it was $1 per month.

The only thing I am saying is, there is a market for streaming and a market for still buying and owning music.

The thing is... Just because people dislike / don't care about streaming, that doesn't mean "No one cares" hence my "do you live in a cave" comment.

I am not defending either model, just saying... Stating no one cares about streaming, just because YOU don't, it's stupid.

 

[peterdev]

Perhaps lots of us live in caves. Or think 10 bucks a month is (takes off socks to aid multiplication) hmm quite a lot per year. Subscription services are insidious, Adobe loves them, M$ is starting to love them, Apple appears now to love them too. When I tried to 'upgrade' to the latest Photos app it very quickly explained how much it wanted me to pay every month to keep 36 pictures of my cat, I declined, I still have the cat, I can take another picture of her tomorrow.

I have the music I bought. Podcasts still exist (no really they still do and they are FREE). I'm never going to sign up for a daily/weekly/monthly/annual fee for listening to music not at 10 a month, 5 a month or 2 a month.

The reason streaming subscriptions have become popular with companies is because they make more money out of them, which means they are worse for you Mr Joe Consumer. If that's what it costs to consume music, I will stop consuming it.

I believe you are right. No-one I know pays for music or music services, some even refuse to download anything from the app store that requires a fee upfront. If the only way to get music is to pay for it, they will go back to torrents and listen to the radio. The only time my friends pay for music is when they go to concerts, which also happens to be the only time artist seem to make money. Btw, why is buying music online the same cost as buying a physical cd, there is no publishing cost, no distribution, no shop, nada. People feel ripped off, unless they use the free Spotify option.

Myself, I will never pay for something I don't own (subscription) or anything with DRM (movies/books on iTunes).

 

[ConnYoungy]

It's true though. I know I don't care. I play music locally. I see no use in streaming music. Just buy a copy (online or disk), sync it with your iDevice and boom. You own your music when you buy it. You don't have that when you stream it.

I also don't see the benefit of streaming, you pay month by month and at the end you still don't have anything tangible to show for it, at least if you buy music you OWN it for ever. And not to mention the elephant in the room but when so many people torrent music for free anyway...

 

[egeek84]

loved you spotify but its time to end things, its not you its me. Theres another girl who I just met and her name is Apple Music....she told me shes gonna rock my world and her reputation backs that up

 

[2010mini]

2015 Keynote:

- 30 minutes of "Look at our sales, WOW! Everyone give each other a hug, did we mention we love our customers?"
- iOS 9: Stability improvements!
- OS X: Stability improvements!
- Apple Music: "OMG look it's U-2!!!"
- Fade to black...

There. I just saved you two hours of time and months of Mandarin or sign language classes. You can thank me later.

You forgot to include:

- One more thing

 

[Michael Goff]

LOL wonder how Google would like this since Samsung is using Android.

They likely wouldn't care. Samsung already has a music streaming service. It's like how they don't care about Samsung Pay. :\

 

[shandyman]

Is there going to be a public beta of iOS 9 and do you think it'll be the same time it's released for developers?

It will be like last year. First public beta will be around beta 3 for Dev's.

What you're asking for, Google offers. Of course I think everyone here will complain that Google will track your music listening, and Apple doesn't.

So if Apple's smart, they will offer the ability to download albums for use offline and that'll be fine as long as your subscription remains active.

I love Google Music All Pass by the way. I can use it on PC, Mac, iOS and Android devices.

Spotify use a similar model. Apple will do the same I expect.

So you don't feel this is good value for money? Even though a single album will set you back £10 and that's all you get, whereas a service like this lets you listen to millions of songs 24/7 for the same price?

Some people just don't get it. Also, they seem to think that they don't have a choice and MUST have streaming and complain about it. What's coming is in addition to what we have. People that don't want streaming, can still stick to buying albums. Why do they feel that we should not have the option for streaming from Apple?! It's ridiculous.

It's not a good value for me, as I have a large library of music (including the stuff I like best and keep coming back to) and download maybe a couple of new songs per month. If your choices are between downloading several albums per month or this, and you expect to go on downloading several albums per month indefinitely, then this is a good deal.

Fair enough, it's not for you. Personally, I used to buy lots of albums, more than $120 worth a year. Then I started streaming, with the odd purchase of albums of stuff I really wanted to keep. Still spending less than I used to and I get to try new stuff, that I normally would not listen to. I have quite an eclectic taste, so the streaming option works good for finding new music.

 

[Jax44]

Announced yes, launched, maybe not. There was talk of 8.4, but it's a wait and see.

Rumor is from 9 to 5 Mac I believe, that 8.4 launches on June 26, with Apple Music.

 

[laurim]

I also don't see the benefit of streaming, you pay month by month and at the end you still don't have anything tangible to show for it, at least if you buy music you OWN it for ever. And not to mention the elephant in the room but when so many people torrent music for free anyway...

It's not for me but playing devil's advocate, I can see the appeal of a streaming service for people who aren't that into listening to the same songs years later and want to listen to the latest stuff and discover new acts no one knows about yet (and don't get played on the radio much). And $10/month is cheaper than purchasing for people with limited income, like students, to listen to higher quality/semi-on demand/semi-customized music vs the radio that plays the same 10 songs over and over again. Add in exclusive content and they might increase their base. A lot of people have Netflix and no one owns those movies, either. Granted, movies aren't re-watched like music is re-listened but there's precedent to subscription-based entertainment.

 

[sniffies]

The only thing that may keep me from switching to Apple Music completely is the possible lack of Last.fm integration. I'm an avid Last.fm user and I like racking up my play count (amongst many other Last.fm features) whenever I use Spotify.

 

[rob25255]

So much for doubling down on secrecy. Your move, Cook.

The best way of doubling down would be to pay Mark Gurman off and most things would be rumours like the 'good old days'

 

[HenryDJP]

My taste in music is so eclectic (scattered and random) that any kind of channel doesn't deliver what I actually want to hear. Also, I prefer to listen to the entire album at once, rather than the top singles.

The real customer of streaming music are the people who still like listening to the radio.

Have you even tried Spotify? You most certainly can listen to the entire album at once.

 

[racer1441]

It's true though. I know I don't care. I play music locally. I see no use in streaming music. Just buy a copy (online or disk), sync it with your iDevice and boom. You own your music when you buy it. You don't have that when you stream it.

100% amen. I don't have internet about 60% of my day...hell, most places I end up don't have cell service of any kind, let alone LTE or even 3g. Always glad to have my music on me at all times.

 

[Meister]

If apple wants this to catch on, they need to get providers to offer unlimited mobile internet.
Where I live mobile internet is rigidly portioned.

 

[mariusignorello]

This is why I kinda hate reading this site before the conference, it gives away too many spoilers. And yes it's my fault, not MacRumors, after all it's what their blog is for, rumors. They should post the spoiler-free section earlier, maybe the Friday before the conference.