WSJ: Apple Music Has Overtaken Spotify in U.S. Paid Subscribers

[Coconut Bean]

LMAO ... riiiight.

With Spotify having over 2yrs ahead lead time, along with being on ALL smartphone devices (Android/iOS) during that time and some integration with Shazam and other music search engines/apps ... even with Apple now owning Shazam ... sorry the excuses for poor business management and whining for just wanting to be a preferred music player on iOS just is a Childs move.

I hope 2 things occur in the EU case between the two:
1 up to date (less than 30 days old) statistics of ALL Android vs iOS users that use Spotify over Apple Music/iTunes on device.
Apple chooses - not forced chooses - to allow other music players to be the primary music player of choice by the end user. Oh wait let's not forget youtube videos do pop-up if you have the Youtube app installed.

Then Apple will further innovate and redesign the convoluted Apple Music app on iOS to be a better citizen and THEN we'll see what Spotify is really worth!!

Man.. Apple revolutionised the music industry with iTunes (which was a necessity for the success of iPods) and the next big step was brought on by Spotify. Let's not forget that and also keep in mind how everything that has came out from Apple lately on software (and partially on hardware) side has been a copy (or at most a minor improvement) of something existing with primary focus on racking in more and more in monthly fees.

Apple Music is Apple's best service, miles better than anything else (well most of them are not even live yet...) and that is partly due to the massive ground work and tough competition that Spotify have accomplished.

 

[nStyle]

Apple Music may be the one app in 2019 without a dark mode...no thanks.

 

[code-m]

You should leaves it there to see if Apple Music bombarded you with ads like someone you quoted, falsely, claimed. Not sure why we need such a fabrication. Apple Music is not for everyone, just like Spotify.

Oh, you mean like the “nagware” when iOS prompts updates or upgrades that Windows 10 also had and finally providing the option to disable it. Or like not providing the option to link a third-party email app to the default mailto option on websites, or a third-party web browser. However all this has nothing to do with the topic of discussion
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Population is a meaningless metric if there’s no causality to buying power and habits, which is the case here.

Is that the reason why Apple dropped the XR price in China

 

[archer75]

Apple Music may be the one app in 2019 without a dark mode...no thanks.

It’s getting a dark mode. Plus there are 3rd party Apple Music apps you can get to change its look and feel and add features.

 

[idrewuk]

I was a die hard Spotify fan but over last 12 months have migrated to Apple Music. Despite a few missing features I’m hopeful they’ll add in time, I’m mighty impressed with the catalogue, curated content and general experience of Apple Music. I think a lot of people who try it out now would feel the same. Used to be horrendous but they’ve slowly and consistently improved it.

 

[code-m]

I wonder if some of AppleMusic’s popularity is because it works seamless with AppleWatch and AirPods.

I am aware that Spotify has been testing on AppleWatch with AirPods, however no offline support at this time. Unless I am mistaken and this has changed.

Just a thought.

 

[barkomatic]

Turn on icloud music library in settings and all your playlists come back, just as you had them.

First time that happened to me I was pretty mad. Where are my playlists?! Turn on icloud music and they were all there again.
I also use songshift to keep my apple music and spotify playlists in sync.

iCloud music library was on and it was one of the first settings I checked. I even called Apple support and they said I’d need to resubscribe to get them back. It was pretty surprising.

 

[archer75]

iCloud music library was on and it was one of the first settings I checked. I even called Apple support and they said I’d need to resubscribe to get them back. It was pretty surprising.

Well yes, you'd have to resubscribe. Any iTunes purchased songs will remain even without a subscription. But it's not a local content player. Or at least not without a subscription to activate iTunes Match.

 

[GtrDude]

I can't stand Apple Music.
Love Spotify.

 

[I7guy]

I can't stand Apple Music.
Love Spotify.

I have more streaming than I know what to do with. Apple music, courtesy of VZW, Sirius in the car and internet, cable tv offers quite a few stations. I'm going to give AM a try and check it out.

 

[matrix07]

Oh, you mean like the “nagware” when iOS prompts updates or upgrades that Windows 10 also had and finally providing the option to disable it.

No, it’s not like that. There is no prompt or even red bubble to annoys you like an OS updates. Again, why a need for fabrication?

 

[Voodoodisco]

Yet Apple Music still suggests Levels by Avicii even though I have smashed the "Dislike" button numerous times. Hope all those new subscribers love the "For You" just as much as I do.

Yeah AM ‘For You’ is a joke most times. Same with trying to create and teach a station your likes and dislikes. Waste of time.

 

[Bawstun]

I tried Spotify and couldn’t find a lot of songs that were on Apple Music. Why I stuck with Apple Music

That is simply not true.
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Yeah AM ‘For You’ is a joke most times. Same with trying to create and teach a station your likes and dislikes. Waste of time.

Apple’s tech is far, far, far, far inferior to Spotify and we really need to acknowledge that. The user experience is so much better on Spotify - what you’d imagine using an Apple product of old was like.

 

[tito2020]

Anyone else want to comment Apple Music can’t compete with Spotify?

Next week will be Spotify turn big deal music is music.

 

[Frankied22]

I’m honestly probably just going to stick with Spotify. I’ve had AM since it launched and used Spotify sporadically through the years when they had promos and even as an Apple fan I can admit Spotify is leagues better. AM has had years of my musical tastes to give me better recommendations and tons of dislikes and it still gives me the same **** every day. It’s still heavily slanted towards rap, hip hop, and top 40 garbage. There’s still no dark mode (possibly coming in iOS 13), there’s still no handoff feature, the UI is still garbage, it still has times it loads super slow or lags out because like most Apple services it’s basically loading some jank web view, there’s still no good abundance of playlists, their “curated” playlists are rarely updated with new stuff, and the social features still suck ass. Siri integration is cool I guess but I’m mostly using my phone when playing music.

Meanwhile whenever I jump back into Spotify it’s crazy how quickly it knows exactly what I want to listen to and I’m instantly discovering new music I like. I can use it on more platforms and control it remotely with my phone and there are tons of playlists.

People who love music, have good tastes, listen to music everyday, and have used both services extensively know Spotify is better, hands down. If this is the rate at which Apple slowly improves services I am really concerned about their sudden shift to services and the fate of News+, Arcade, and TV+. And we can already see News+ is garbage.

 

[Abazigal]

People who love music, have good tastes, listen to music everyday, and have used both services extensively know Spotify is better, hands down. If this is the rate at which Apple slowly improves services I am really concerned about their sudden shift to services and the fate of News+, Arcade, and TV+. And we can already see News+ is garbage.

I usually get booed for this kind of comment, but I'll put it out here anyway. 

I find that Apple's ecosystem is designed around people that easily spend money. It's a common trope around here that Apple gear is overpriced (which I disagree with for most part) but given that, and their financials which are unlike any other comparable company, you can only conclude that Apple buyers spend money - a lot of it. 

I'm end-to-end Apple gear, for the simple reason that I don't want to dick around with cobbling some system together, deal with any more accounts than I already have (200+ passwords in my 1Password - welcome to adulthood), or deal with security issues.

I make a decent living working an honest job, and at this point in my life, I want things to be easy more than I want them to be cheap. I am Apple's target market, and I am not ashamed to admit it.

Is Apple Music lower quality or more expensive? I literally don't care. I just want to be able to pull up a song on my watch and stream it to my airpods no matter where I am. That's it. I'll pay more for it. I don't have to install an app. I don't need to enter anything. I can even airplay it to damn near everything. 

This is what Apple does. They rarely beat competitors on the bullet list, but when it comes to 'look at your phone and all your stuff is unlocked', they're unbeatable. They play the system integration game better than anyone else, and if it costs a few bucks more, I'm happy to pay it.

And I am willing to bet that this is going to be the case with their other services as well. Apple Arcade is going to put those games in your face front and centre thanks to the App Store. Apple News is a preinstalled default on your phone. Apple video is the glue holding all the other video streaming services together. And all of them are going to work with family sharing, which is currently more than what Netflix offers.

Plus Apple has the resources to keep supporting them until they succeed. Which is often more than can be said for the competition. We can’t even be sure how long Google Stadia will hang around, given Google’s track record to nixing projects, even those that seem to be doing well.

Credit where credit is due for the stuff that Apple does do well, IMO.

 

[Shanghaichica]

I’m honestly probably just going to stick with Spotify. I’ve had AM since it launched and used Spotify sporadically through the years when they had promos and even as an Apple fan I can admit Spotify is leagues better. AM has had years of my musical tastes to give me better recommendations and tons of dislikes and it still gives me the same **** every day. It’s still heavily slanted towards rap, hip hop, and top 40 garbage. There’s still no dark mode (possibly coming in iOS 13), there’s still no handoff feature, the UI is still garbage, it still has times it loads super slow or lags out because like most Apple services it’s basically loading some jank web view, there’s still no good abundance of playlists, their “curated” playlists are rarely updated with new stuff, and the social features still suck ass. Siri integration is cool I guess but I’m mostly using my phone when playing music.

Meanwhile whenever I jump back into Spotify it’s crazy how quickly it knows exactly what I want to listen to and I’m instantly discovering new music I like. I can use it on more platforms and control it remotely with my phone and there are tons of playlists.

People who love music, have good tastes, listen to music everyday, and have used both services extensively know Spotify is better, hands down. If this is the rate at which Apple slowly improves services I am really concerned about their sudden shift to services and the fate of News+, Arcade, and TV+. And we can already see News+ is garbage.

I honestly don't see what the difference is between Spotify and Apple music to differentiate between some who 'loves music'. UI differences aside they both have the roughly the same music available for streaming, if I want to listen to Mariah Carey it's the same songs I'm going to be listening to on either service. The reason I choose Apple music is because it works better with the devices I own (Apple), but if I owned a different set of devices I could use spotify or one of the other streaming services. I don't see what's so special about Spotify apart from the fact that you can listen to music which is ruined by adverts for free.

In fact I've had quite the opposite experience with spotify. I don't like the UI but that's personal preference. However despite using it for the past 4-5 months on my echos (various free trials ) it has no clue what type of music I like. It just plays random music. Apple music in contrast has never played anything outside of the realms of what I listen to. It often mixes in songs by artists I already have in my library and also new songs in the genres that I like. I've often discovered new artists/ songs in this way.

 

[torana355]

I usually get booed for this kind of comment, but I'll put it out here anyway. 

I find that Apple's ecosystem is designed around people that easily spend money. It's a common trope around here that Apple gear is overpriced (which I disagree with for most part) but given that, and their financials which are unlike any other comparable company, you can only conclude that Apple buyers spend money - a lot of it. 

I'm end-to-end Apple gear, for the simple reason that I don't want to dick around with cobbling some system together, deal with any more accounts than I already have (200+ passwords in my 1Password - welcome to adulthood), or deal with security issues.

I make a decent living working an honest job, and at this point in my life, I want things to be easy more than I want them to be cheap. I am Apple's target market, and I am not ashamed to admit it.

Is Apple Music lower quality or more expensive? I literally don't care. I just want to be able to pull up a song on my watch and stream it to my airpods no matter where I am. That's it. I'll pay more for it. I don't have to install an app. I don't need to enter anything. I can even airplay it to damn near everything. 

This is what Apple does. They rarely beat competitors on the bullet list, but when it comes to 'look at your phone and all your stuff is unlocked', they're unbeatable. They play the system integration game better than anyone else, and if it costs a few bucks more, I'm happy to pay it.

And I am willing to bet that this is going to be the case with their other services as well. Apple Arcade is going to put those games in your face front and centre thanks to the App Store. Apple News is a preinstalled default on your phone. Apple video is the glue holding all the other video streaming services together. And all of them are going to work with family sharing, which is currently more than what Netflix offers.

Plus Apple has the resources to keep supporting them until they succeed. Which is often more than can be said for the competition. We can’t even be sure how long Google Stadia will hang around, given Google’s track record to nixing projects, even those that seem to be doing well.

Credit where credit is due for the stuff that Apple does do well, IMO.

You have written a bunch of stuff that is basically off topic, sure Apple does integration well but Spotify does music streaming better, it's just a fact really. Music is a huge part of my life so I've extensivley used all the music streaming services and can say confidently that Spotify does it best. Anyone who loves music and has actually tried all the services would agree. For the more casual listener Apple music is fine as it's bias torwards top chart music and hip hop and I must say I love the lyrics on AM too.

 

[Abazigal]

You have written a bunch of stuff that is basically off topic, sure Apple does integration well but Spotify does music streaming better, it's just a fact really. Music is a huge part of my life so I've extensivley used all the music streaming services and can say confidently that Spotify does it best. Anyone who loves music and has actually tried all the services would agree. For the more casual listener Apple music is fine as it's bias torwards top chart music and hip hop and I must say I love the lyrics on AM too.

I don’t see how it’s off-topic.

It’s like how people who criticise the mediocre sound quality of the airpods don’t seem to realise that people like myself are not buying airpods for their sound quality, but for the convenience and ease of use.

Same with Apple Music. I chose it for its integration with the rest of the Apple ecosystem. As I sit in my room typing out this response on my ipad, I am listening to a playlist of easy hits belted out from my Apple TV in the background.

You are probably right in that I am more a casual listener than anything else, but my money is just as good as the next music aficionado here. Maybe you are right in that Spotify sounds better or sports superior curation or is better in some area which is important to you, and that’s just not going to matter as much as you would like it to for the rest of us.

The lesson that Apple keeps teaching, and which others keep ignoring - Not everything that matters can be measured. Just as not everything that can be measured matters.

 

[Scottsdale]

"Apple Music will be a failure, they're too late, etc."
This gives me hope for TV+, if they put enough effort into making it the best I think the market will catch on. Also, did I misunderstand or are they going to offer per channel subscriptions?

But Apple has the leading music sales before Spotify with iTunes and selling all of those digital copies. Apple dropped the ball to lose its foothold in music. It’s now relegated to copying other companies business models as it can no longer innovate.

I hope AppleTV+ becomes the one source I want instead of lying three different companies, but Apple is late to this game and they have never been in this game. The TV app integration looks great. Like I said in another post, Apple dropped the ball five years ago when Netflix was cheap and everyone was calling for them to buy Netflix.

Apple always seems to think it can do better. Not with Eddy Cue doing business. Can you imagine if that guy showed up in your office? Would you really let him court you into giving up your business model so AAPL could run away with your business? If I was Netflix’s CEO, I would tell him to go to hell just like several newspapers did for Apple News-.

 

[torana355]

I don’t see how it’s off-topic.

It’s like how people who criticise the mediocre sound quality of the airpods don’t seem to realise that people like myself are not buying airpods for their sound quality, but for the convenience and ease of use.

Same with Apple Music. I chose it for its integration with the rest of the Apple ecosystem. As I sit in my room typing out this response on my ipad, I am listening to a playlist of easy hits belted out from my Apple TV in the background.

You are probably right in that I am more a casual listener than anything else, but my money is just as good as the next music aficionado here. Maybe you are right in that Spotify sounds better or sports superior curation or is better in some area which is important to you, and that’s just not going to matter as much as you would like it to for the rest of us.

The lesson that Apple keeps teaching, and which others keep ignoring - Not everything that matters can be measured. Just as not everything that can be measured matters.

Funny you say that as I am typing this on my s10 with Spotify streaming to my home theatre system via Chromecast. Funny how over rated Apples intergration is in many ways as the exact same experience is achievable outside of the walled garden these days. I'm also getting the benifit of the superior algorithms used by Spotify to learn about bands I've not heard of before.

 

[archer75]

Funny you say that as I am typing this on my s10 with Spotify streaming to my home theatre system via Chromecast. Funny how over rated Apples intergration is in many ways as the exact same experience is achievable outside of the walled garden these days. I'm also getting the benifit of the superior algorithms used by Spotify to learn about bands I've not heard of before.

Sure, you can do that. I do that too sometimes. And on a basic level it works fine. But apple integration goes deeper. It's not the exact same experience. You'll get it someday.

I own plenty of android/google, apple and other gear so I use it all. Android and IOS, chromecast and airplay, android tv and Apple TV, CarPlay and android auto, Apple Watch and android wear os. I have it all.

And thanks to apples algorithms I'm finding more new music in a week than I did in the last month on Spotify.

 

[trifid]

It’s like how people who criticise the mediocre sound quality of the airpods don’t seem to realise that people like myself are not buying airpods for their sound quality, but for the convenience and ease of use.

I understand what you were trying to explain but Airpods don't have mediocre sound, it's a bad example, they have some of the best sound for its category. And I'd argue they wouldn't be as successful if it wasn't for this. Yes convenience is great, but sound is paramount. Music listening on Airpods is so amazing, it keeps surprising me on how great they sound.

I have a friend that's a musician and he bought the Roxanne Jerry Harvey in-ears ($1899, 12 drivers, custom-fit), a couple of weeks later a family member gifted him Airpods for christmas, he was amazed and loving them for everyday music listening. I know this is completely anecdotal, and sound is tough to rate objectively, but there is no way they come anywhere close to the word 'mediocre'.

Sorry I jumped on this, I had to point this out

 

[Abazigal]

Funny you say that as I am typing this on my s10 with Spotify streaming to my home theatre system via Chromecast. Funny how over rated Apples intergration is in many ways as the exact same experience is achievable outside of the walled garden these days. I'm also getting the benifit of the superior algorithms used by Spotify to learn about bands I've not heard of before.

Good for you.

For me, using an S10 means having to give up my Apple Watch, and I really am not a fan of round smartwatches. Switching to android also means giving up on apps like overcast, Apollo, Bear and Fantastical, or the integration with my ipad.

Could I switch to Android? Sure. But the reality is that I would likely be trading one set of compromises for another, and I doubt I would be any better off than I currently am now.

Like I said before, this isn’t a dick-measuring contest. You have chosen Spotify for your own reasons, and you should also recognise that we are free to favour our own services for reasons different from you. You don’t have to agree with my reasons for having opted for airpods or Apple Music or even the iphone. You just have to accept it.

And as it shows, 28 million other people in the US have opted for Apple Music despite all the reasons you have given as to why you feel Spotify is better.

Let us each vote with out wallets, and let the financials of each company speak for itself.

 

[torana355]

I understand what you were trying to explain but Airpods don't have mediocre sound, it's a bad example, they have some of the best sound for its category. And I'd argue they wouldn't be as successful if it wasn't for this. Yes convenience is great, but sound is paramount. Music listening on Airpods is so amazing, it keeps surprising me on how great they sound.

I have a friend that's a musician and he bought the Roxanne Jerry Harvey in-ears ($1899, 12 drivers, custom-fit), a couple of weeks later a family member gifted him Airpods, he was amazed and loving them for everyday music listening. I know this is completely anecdotal, and sound is tough to rate objectively, but there is no way they come anywhere close to the word 'mediocre'.

Sorry I jumped on this, I had to point this out

I could not disagree more and im not alone. If you really think airpods are anything more then mediocre in sound quality you have not heard a set of decent cans, hell my beats x sound way better then airpods and beats are not world beaters by any means.