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Sony Music CEO Confirms Launch of Apple's Music Streaming Service
An anonymous reader writes: Sony Music CEO Doug Morris said in an interview that Apple will announce a new music streaming service tomorrow at its World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC). The new Apple Music service will include subscription streaming music features as well as a revamped iTunes Radio service. "What does Apple bring to this?" Morris said. "Well, they've got $178 billion in the bank. And they have 800 million credit cards in iTunes. Spotify has never really advertised because it's never been profitable. My guess is that Apple will promote this like crazy and I think that will have a halo effect on the streaming business. A rising tide will lift all boats," he added. "It's the beginning of an amazing moment for our industry."
I think he meant a tsunami which will wash everything else away.
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"First things first -- but not necessarily in that order"
-- The Doctor, "Doctor
I think apple is a little late to this. They tried apple radio a couple years ago and it didn't work. insider interviews confirmed that the point was not to get people to listen to the radio, but rather to convert people to buy the songs from itunes. this was patently transparent. At the time I started using pandora and paying $4 through the app store subscription. I have a dozen really cool stations that I have curated through dozens of thumbs up / thumbs down / song seeds. I would need to see something really compelling tomorrow if i'm to be convinced to try something else, let alone in addition.
So, seeing as they are becoming competitors, when will Spotify disappear from the Apple App Store?
What?
There are thousands of free internet radio stations. Those even work with itunes. Why would anyone pay for it?
APPLE INNOVATION SURVIVAL KIT
ONLY BREAK SEAL IN CASE OF EMERGENCY
Contents of Packet A: Introduction of new streaming iTunes service.
Contents of Packet B: Introduction of new streaming iTunes service.
Contents of Packet C: Introduction of new streaming iTunes service.
<blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
OK this is admittedly a guess but it seems likely from their track record that this service will only work with Apple devices.
Why in the hell would anyone want a single-vendor music steaming service? Music isn't specific to Apple (or Sony or Google). I can outright BUY unencumbered mp3 files for so dirt cheap that streaming doesn't make any sense. Why stream when I can just buy them and copy them to whatever device I want, whenever I want, and use them long after the streaming service goes bust?
It makes no sense.
Spotify has never really advertised because it's never been profitable.
So you should only advertise when you're profitable?
If Doug Morris thinks this is a good thing that means it isn't a good thing for the end users.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Yes, the moment in which it is being completely wiped out. Most of the music market is now digital, hence Apple, Spotify and Google are the new "majors", the previous ones have no reason to exist anymore, and sooner than later they will simply go bankrupt, some already have. There's no reason why Apple, Spotify and Google should "share" the market with Sony or Universal, when they can simply erase them, just like they usually do with smaller competitors in the IT industry, and especially now that the music industry has shrinked significantly (it's worth only $15 bln worldwide) and there's not much to share at all.
Not to mention that, quite frankly, I struggle to understand why some people still pay for music, whether digital or physical. Apple and Google will have to dump their music business too.
Good question. If there were an answer to it I think the industry would be in a different spot than it is.
It turns out customers greatly prefer streaming music (essentially paying per-play) to buying it. Music downloading is down and streaming is up.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
A rising tide will lift all boats," he added. "It's the beginning of an amazing moment for our industry."
Anyone remember Apple Pay with the already available credit card information? Well, according to some, it looks like a dud already. This could well be the same because I for one, have no intention of ever being a subscriber. I am sure I am not alone.
The chief executive of Spotify, Daniel Ek, has predicted that the free online music service will help the industry grow to as much as 10 times its current size, in a future where old distinctions between providers break down.
http://www.theguardian.com/tec...
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
"It's the beginning of an amazing moment for our industry."
I'd appreciate if someone would pull the CEO of Sony out from under his rock and let him know it's the year 2015.
You've got to be fucking kidding me with this. As if no one has ever heard of a streaming music service before.
On a related note (ba dum tiss), must be fun to be a board member for Apple. Fuck it, why not has become the financial motto, especially when identifying cash-on-hand as the justification here.
CEO's are overvalued!!
The signature of my life are the tools.
what is this? an ad for apple?
they had streaming for a while now. and the apple radio is pure garbage. what's "news" here?
also, isn't Sony ceo one of the fuckers from riaa that actually made streaming services garbage by imposing all the retarded rules about skipping and such nonsenses from people that can barely understand the radio business?
Do not offer a streaming service for the first few years and get people to pay per track and get your 30%. Let that ride out until the track sales stabilize and the growth slows to or approaches zero. Then add a subscription service and get more money.
If it makes sense for Apple to start a subscription service now, it would have made sense from a consumer end to do it 10 years ago. If a majority of the Apple users looked outside of the Apple box, they would not have to wait until Apple provides a service to them, they would look for it on their own. It is a very strange ecosystem where Apple makes all the calls and the direction and people just accept it.
One thing hold true with Apple, they will ALWAYS balance your freedom and options based on their profit margin. The tighter and more integrated the Apple ecosystem gets, the less freedom and options you will have to use those individual Apple pieces and parts on non Apple paid for equipment, software, and services. Go back and look at every decision Apple has made or things they have NOT done that other companies have in the last 15 years and apply that rule and see if it fits. There may be a pendulum movement in there somewhere but it is still swinging in Apples direction.
Yes, changing iTunes to a subscription service is just awesome. Say goodbye to all of the music you bought from iTunes, because Apple is going to delete it all remotely and force you to pay per play now.
Is this music distribution yet?
I think we have just begun to see the fragmentation of music streaming. We have already seen exclusives between artists and certain streaming services. We have seen artists like Taylor swift pull content from one's they feel they don't get a good deal on. Bringing Apple into the mix will only fragment this even further.
Apple has the means to kill off a lot of services by either buying them as with Beats, or simply buying the exclusive rights to artists content. I have a feeling the likes of Pandora,Spotify,Tidal, Amazon, Google will all be competing for content. Might be nice for Artists who are popular like Swift. But this will likely create a problem for consumers who may have to choose which service has most of what they want to listen too. What will probably kill Apple's service for music streaming is going to be its pricing structure.
lolololol
Working.....
This is an additional service. You will still be able to buy songs and if you have iTunes Match, you will still have your own library of music on your computer and on the cloud.
"And they have 800 million credit cards in iTunes."
But my CC in iTunes is expired so they only have 799,999,999 cards that are valid.
Google Play Music has been trying to push the $10/mo streaming service and I don't know of anyone who has adopted it.
I just don't think there is a big un-tapped market for streaming music with all the free options out there (including broadcast Radio which you can now listen to via app).
It better sound better than iTunes Radio! I use Amazon Radio and RadioTunes (formerly SKY.FM) which are both 256 kbps CBR.
"It's the beginning of an amazing moment for our industry." Let's see how many years since you bought CBS??? A decade? So money might be nice to have coming in. BUT you're no Apple. Maybe Apples' sauce...strained.
Yeah, right...
Apple will pull the plug, yank your tunes and make you pay per play. Glad I never bought into their stuff.