It’s hard to think that Apple could produce a flop in the music industry. After all, this is the company that changed the entire industry when it introduced iTunes and the iPod.
But just four weeks after the launch, reports show that only 11 million people had signed up for the service’s 3-month trial. To compare, Spotify claims 75 million active users and Pandora 80 million. Before we start talking about whether Apple Music is a flop, though, let’s take a few things into consideration.
A few fast facts
Spotify has been around since October 2008. It took almost two years for the service to garner 10 million users (2.5 million of which were paid subscribers). It took another two years for the company to double its user base. Pandora, on the other hand, was launched in 2005, and it took around six years for the company to reach 40 million active users.
So what does this say? For one thing, it says that expectations might be a little too high for Apple Music. After all, not only had it been around for just a month when Apple released those numbers, but it’s no longer the head honcho in the digital music industry. Spotify and Pandora have taken the reigns there.
One thing to consider, however, is Apple’s sheer influence. For example, Apple Music is already available for everyone who has an Apple product with at least iOS 8.4. You don’t need to download the app like you would with its competitors. Everyone who opens their iTunes gets a message prompting them to try to service out. So with 74.5 million iPhones sold in the last quarter of 2014 alone, why haven’t more people jumped on it?
That’s a good question, but I believe it’s entirely unfair to attempt to answer it this soon in the game.
What about Ian Rogers?
You may not have heard that name before, but Ian Rogers is one of Apple Music’s top executives. He was previously the CEO of Beats Music and helped push Apple Music after Apple acquired his company in 2014. And now he’s leaving. While many have said that this was Rogers’s dream job, reports say that he was leaving for a Europe-based company in an unrelated industry, now confirmed as LVMH, a French luxury company, whose brands include Louis Vutton and Chandon.
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