Apple Music (On Trial & Onward)

[+48V]

I'm planting this topic to corral the inevitable discussions/pontifications/bloviation regarding the coming launch of Apple's adventure into streamland.
:thmbsp::thumbsdn::scratch2:

On the heels of the biggest flip-flop and damage control capitulations in their history, Apple will launch their on-demand streaming service (Apple Music) with reworked terms and royalty agreements. Apple will now pay royalties during a 90 day free trial period for all users.
The payroll office opens on June 30.

Typically on-demand music services pay royalties to rights owners based upon a formulaic stew of metrics summed/multiplied/divided/added. Gross revenues from subscription fees, provider’s pro rata shares (wholesale price), number of listens/aggregate listens, cached plays, cloud service fees, yada yada… It’s a gob smear of moon phase math.

Now, since one of the key ingredients to the calculations will not exist (Revenue from subscription fees) during the free trials, Apple and the providers have agreed to a simple fixed rate for each listen.

No official word or leaks so far, but some inside sources are saying this number is $.002 per listen per user.

Compared to going rates; that’s a bit less than what Spotify pays (on average) per stream for it’s free trial period; but more than Spotify’s free ad supported streams.

Thoughts? Predictions? Have fun with some numbers!

Yes…they can afford it. How much will this 90 day gratis customer grab dip into Apple’s treasure chest?

Some notes/baselines:

• Apple has 500+ million iTunes users-many with credit cards on file.
• Apple Music will be available to Android users.
• Recent study reports that nearly a fifth of US consumers would pay $7.99/month with the rate rising to 28% among iOS users. Apple Music will be $9.99 after trial.

[plea] As itchy it may be for all Ned and Nancy naysayers of 'anything Apple' to check in just to use the restroom here; please don't. Resist, take a T-shirt on the house, and say to yourself that you did.--thanks

 

[AlTinkster92]

Will be watching to see if music quality is better than Spotify premium.

 

[BillyBatts]

Apple.

What can you say? Innovation is their hallmark. I still have my iPhone 4s and my iPad. I was going to sell them but now with Apple Music, I will hold on for three months of free trial and see if I want to jump back on the iPhone iTunes AppleMusic Bandwagon. IOS 9 is coming out soon and it will include the iPhone 4s. They still support this older model so I have noting to loose by sticking around. I'm a BlackBerry fan for Business, but for fun, nothing beats an iPhone. Apple Radio "Beats 1" intrigues me. I am a huge fan of "The Monocle 24" worldwide radio from London and have been listening for years. This is similar to what Apple is envisioning for Beats 1, except The Monocle plays music and news, whereas Apple will be only music. I listen to the Atlantic Shift and the Pacific Shift live DJ worldwide broadcast so I can listen in Honolulu or Florida or Seattle or London or Hong Kong live and have found great music via this awesome source. I'm sure Beats 1 will be similar with live rotating broadcast from London, New York and Los Angeles, but without world news.

I checked out the website and watched the ad and the movie for Apple Music. The complete launch Keynote is here, Apple Music being toward the end presented as "One More Thing". The "History of sound" ad was spectacular. That's worth watching too.

The Keynote launch:
http://www.apple.com/live/2015-june-event/

History of Sound:
http://www.apple.com/music/films/#film-history-of-sound

 

[uofmtiger]

I am looking forward to trying it out. I was a fan Beats "curation" but it had too many other downsides to stay with it.

I want to see how the app is implemented on the desktop/AirPlay, how well it works with Siri, and how my music will be integrated into the app. I am also interested in SQ. They are supposed to be using 256k and the assumption is that it will be AAC format. Not as good as Rdio in that respect, but "mastered for iTunes" could fill in that gap....not real sure, but with three free months, I should have plenty of time to check it out.

I am guessing that the radio station will have commercials, so I don't think I will use it all that often. However, I will at least try it.

 

[RamblinE]

With all the great features of Google Music I went back to Spotify after the end of that free trial. I have had Spotify since it was in Beta in the US and I am a very happy Premium subscriber. I'm just comfortable using it. I have two Mac computers, an iPad and a three year old iPhone 5 currently out of rotation while I use my three year old Nexus 4. As long as Spotify runs on all my devices I'll stick with it.

What makes Apple an innovator is that they have one easy to use and consistent eco system from which everyone who contributes to their market share draws from. In my hands at the moment is one of the earlier Android phones from November 2012 to deploy NFC, which is the frame work upon which Apple Pay operates. Why the two year delay in deploying it for iOS? I don't know. However every person who buys an iPhone 6 can activate and when millions are buying the device it makes it easy for merchants and banks to adapt. By comparison Google Wallet NFC pay has been around for a few years however Android OEM manufacturers have historically locked that functionality out of their devices in favor of deals with other NFC pay startups like the one defunct Softcard. This kind of fragmentation holds the Android platform back even if it did implement an idea first. Apple and its consistent software and ecosystem continue to keep a straight and easy pipeline between developers and consumers enabling innovation through easy implementation, whether or not the idea is original. Google is trying to make the best of this with their "different together" ad campaign but OEMs continue to hobble Android with fragmentation. Samsung is rumored to be developing their own NFC pay system for just their devices, instead of using the already existing Google Wallet frame work. MILK music streaming is a music streaming service exclusive only to Samsung's, Galaxy apps is an app market exclusively for Samsung and their wearable smartwatches don't run Google sanctioned Android Wear but run Tizen and only work with Samsung devices.

So when their competitors are so seemingly confused and disorganized then of course Apple is going to launch a not quite original product or service that will be quickly adapted and proliferated. The real innovation is in how they make it so easy for just anybody to pick up and go with a new service.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[+48V]

Taylor Swift has decided to stream her most recent best-selling album "1989" on Apple Music when the music service launches on June 30 next week, just days after Apple reversed course and agreed to pay artists and rights holders on a per-stream basis during the free three-month trial period -- specifically, Apple will pay 0.2 cents for each song streamed during a customer's trial.

AFAIK 1989 is not available on any other streaming service. Not an exclusive? :scratch2:

What a funny business...

 

[+48V]

some numbers

What's it gonna cost Apple?

some conservative numbers to kick around:

50M users that stream just 2 hours a day--Apple's royalty bill @ $.002/listen would be;

$3,000,000 per day
$90,000,000 per month


it's anyone's guess but I don't think it's too far fetched to say there could easily be 100M users during the first 90 days.

 

[uofmtiger]

What's it gonna cost Apple?

some conservative numbers to kick around:

50M users that stream just 2 hours a day--Apple's royalty bill @ $.002/listen would be;

$3,000,000 per day
$90,000,000 per month


it's anyone's guess but I don't think it's too far fetched to say there could easily be 100M users during the first 90 days.

They can afford it.

What will be interesting is to see how many people translate to paying clients.

 

[+48V]

The original "Swift" section of the iTunes/Apple Music contract section (pg. 54 of 58)

(f) Fees for Trials and Comp Accounts. For the sake of clarity, for Trial Users, and for
Comp Accounts that ITUNES provides on a gratis basis, no license or royalty fees, including Fees, will be due to COMPANY​

_____________________________________________________________

The revised iTunes/Apple Music contract section:

(f) Trial Fees. Until the first full month in which there is Subscription Service Revenue in the applicable country of the Territory, for each Play of COMPANY Content by a Trial User via the iTunes Subscription Service, ITUNES shall pay COMPANY the applicable amount set forth in the Trial Per Play Wholesale Price Table below in this section 5(f). Thereafter, for such country, ITUNES shall pay COMPANY COMPANY’s Pro Rata Share (based on all Plays from Subscribers of all Subscription types) of Trial Revenue for the given month.

​

OK, Yay Apple... :eyeroll:

Of interest and notorious note however is the added unrefreshing section (g) regarding Comp accounts.

lmao...
so no royalties due for Comp accounts. really? Such silly fine point dickering... WTF Eddy? :drool:

 

[SimplyOrange]

This begs the question: since you can upload your music to the cloud and iTunes has its match feature, what will inevitably happen to all of the audiophile/different remasters I have in my library? Will they just be converted to the most current remaster?

 

[+48V]

They can afford it.

What will be interesting is to see how many people translate to paying clients.

Yup. They could pay out $90 million per month for 73 years before they got an overdraft notice from the bank.

At one point a few years ago Spotify's free to paid conversion rate was 20%. I think that rate has slipped into the 15% range currently. :scratch2:

 

[+48V]

This begs the question: since you can upload your music to the cloud and iTunes has its match feature, what will inevitably happen to all of the audiophile/different remasters I have in my library? Will they just be converted to the most current remaster?

"The short answer is no. Enabling iTunes Match leaves your existing iTunes library pretty much in its original form; the process does not remove anything from your iTunes library, but merely updates it with status indicators to identify which tracks have been successfully matched or uploaded to iCloud."

 

[uofmtiger]

Lot's of "first look" articles out today.

http://recode.net/2015/06/30/apple-music-first-look-rich-fluid-but-somewhat-confusing/

The above article does discuss some of the issues with having so many features built into one app. My main concern is that the stuff I want to get to quickly are easily accessible (search, new releases, and recommendations).

At the WWDC demonstration, it did look like they now have all new releases in one place, which was one of my major gripes with Beats service. Should be interesting to see if this will replace Rdio as my paid streaming choice.

The Siri integration and iTunes Match features may be enough to get me to change, but I will keep Rdio at least another month to see if I feel like going back to it.

 

[+48V]

And we're off. With just 20 minutes under my belt the UI is not bad. It's got elements of both rdio and Tidal.

My first listen was AC/DC - It's A Long Way To The Top If You Want To Rock n Roll.

 

[redcoates7]

I don't have access to the updates yet- will download as soon as I can and add my impressions

 

[uofmtiger]

And we're off. With just 20 minutes under my belt the UI is not bad. It's got elements of both rdio and Tidal.

My first listen was AC/DC - It's A Long Way To The Top If You Want To Rock n Roll.

I have been messing around with it. I had an issue getting my iTunes Match library to show up, but I went to settings and "merged", which fixed the issue.

I like the interface, but there is a lot of stuff to explore. I don't see that as a downside as long as the stuff I need is easily available (which it is). I like the way the current song playing page is similar to Rdio with the color of the album matching the artwork (I think Spotify may be using this now, too).

I tested Siri with just a couple commands. I told it to play "Miles Davis" and it went into a radio type of mode selecting songs from his many different albums. I then told it to play James Taylor's new release and it started playing the album "Before this world". I told it to play music from the 80s and "Careless Whisper" started playing.

I am not sure how specific you can get, but it will be fun to mess around with it.

 

[Jeffery]

I listen to Beats Music via Sonos. Apple Music isn't available on Sonos. If I "upgrade" my Beats account to Apple Music, I can't stream via Sonos.

Now to just wait and see how long until they pull the plug on Beats, like Mog before it.

I've seen the argument that streaming is the wave of the future, but every streaming source I've used has gone by the wayside. Reminds me, I have a few CDs I need to rip to my NAS.

 

[BillyBatts]

OK, so I downloaded iOS 8.4 on my iPhone at 12:01 Eastern. All went well. You need this update to get Apple Music on the iPhone. Apple Music was up 25 minutes later. I almost sold my iPhone but held that until I got to try Apple Music for three months.

I signed up for Apple Music's 3 month trial. All went well and was easy to do. You will need an Apple ID obviously and an iTunes account in the Apple store with a valid credit card. They don't charge it until your 3 months trial is up, unless you cancel.

The iPhone Apple Music interface is combined into "MUSIC" on your iPhone/iPod/iPad. If you don't have an iPhone or iPad or MacBook or iPod you will have ot download iTunes to your Windows computer. I don't have a Windows machine and only use my Chromebook so web access is out for me, unfortunately. Perhaps when they launch an Android version later this year I can access it on my Chromebook.

IMO so far, it's pretty cool. During initial set-up, you choose genre, then artists from the genre that you like to listen to, and then Apple Music gets a sense of what you like so it can "recommend" for you. Then there is Beats1 Radio. I'm not sure I'll listen to the new Beats1 radio station. The music I sampled is very "young" and not my genre. I like the music they play on Monocle24 much better. Keep in mind, as I wrote above, on an iPhone, Apple Music is NOT an App, but is intertwined into the Music interface with iOS 8.4.

You search very similarly for artists or albums like you do on any music app. I notice some cool comments come up when you search albums, like "If you have been thinking about getting in to XYZ Artist, THIS album is a GREAT way to start!" Pretty cool.

So far, not a big difference from Spotify or Tidal to Apple Music. As I dig more into it, or you guys do, maybe we can find some differences that are really setting it apart - or not.

Also, I still prefer Spotify because I need something I can use on my BlackBerry, Android, WindowsPhone and MY CHROMEBOOK! I need to stream on Chromebook. Apple Music can't do that at present.

The 3 month trial is in its infancy. A LOT MORE digging into the service needs to be done. I look forward to it and to what you guys think as well.

 

[KrisM]

I updated a couple of my devices today to ios8.4. I'm not sure if I'll be a subscriber, but with road trip season coming up I'm happy to give this a trial.

The siri thing intrigues me. I don't bother with it really, but it could be great for in-car use.
The possibility of Android support looks promising, too. I have a tablet that I want to get set up for mostly music duty, and this could be a tipping point for me.

Hey Billy. A bit off topic, but have you looked into FileBrowser for playing FLAC files on your iphone? I have a hard drive plugged into my wifi router via the USB port. FB on my iphone, ipod touch, and kid's ipad mini streams FLAC files just fine. 24 bit FLAC can be a bit glitch, though.

 

[BillyBatts]

Hi Kris. I will certainly try it. I never thought of it. Thanks for pinging me on this. Flac on the iPhone would be the bomb!

I am a BlackBerry lover (I should be Canadian) for my business phone. It just rocks for heavy business use. Not a great play phone. It does do music, and I even have Spotify Loaded on the Berry, but it's just not like an iPhone - that was designed FOR music first. Berry was designed for BUSINESS first and Communication. Apps and music are secondary thoughts. I also have a BlackBerry Playbook and Bridge the Berry to the Playbook so the Playbook (tablet) becomes a large BlackBerry phone. I tried to do this with my iPhone to iPad but it didn't seem to work well. Not like BlackBerry anyway. I also have a WindowsPhone and a new Android Quad Core large screen like an iPhone 6 size. All GSM so I just transfer the SIM card. I tried all formats over the years - so I could compare platforms. WindowsPhone rocks and I love the live tiles, and Cortana is 10 times better than Siri. But the lack of apps available on WindowsPhone is like the lack of Apps on BlackBerry. As you well know, iPhone has a million apps. And they all work. Android is great with apps too. I keep bouncing, but iPhone is cool. Especially for music!

So, I still have my iPhone (luckily - came damn close to selling it last month), and a pristine iPad that I have really never used. I will use it now with Apple Music for 3 months. Like you, I probably won't subscribe, but 3 months free is worth a try. Who knows, I may love it. That's what Apple is counting on. But so far I still prefer Spotify.

Apple Music does sound GREAT via stream. I wonder what streaming rate they are streaming at? I'll have to google that. I'm sure dozens of bright boys already have that bit rate posted.