Apple reportedly wooing Drake, Pharrell, David Guetta for iTunes Radio guest DJ spot

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  • Reply 21 of 43
    bigpicsbigpics Posts: 1,397member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post



    To be honest I don't know anyone in the UK these days so I'll take your word for it. I do wish they would get rid of the Royals though. I'm sure there must be a better way to waste tax payer's money.

     

    The Royals themselves are a parasitic carryover (and much more German than English), but the interest in them contributes much more to GB's economy than it costs to maintain them "in the style to which they are accustomed."

     

    Publishing (Royal gossip, weddings, babies, notable knightings, etc. - on the net, in print, on video nets intensely within the country, but far beyond it), merch, royal tourism and more... ...People go to England TO see Buckingham Palace, the changing of the guard, etc.

     

    And besides, if they did give 'em the boot, they'd just be replaced by some indigenous version of the the Kardashians and their ilk.  Cultures are characterized by having icons to project all kinds of things onto. And both the Queen and her fam... ...similarly as Kim and Bruce, et al. are mostly moderately skillful - and make very tidy livings - at being famous. 

     

    So given the alt, while I'm not a personal fan, I'd take the tradition any day.

  • Reply 22 of 43
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    i wonder how much this will matter to people. Is someone going to leave Spotify, Rdio, or Google Play Music because Apple Music has celebrities curating playlists? I doubt it.
  • Reply 23 of 43
    bigpicsbigpics Posts: 1,397member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post



    i wonder how much this will matter to people. Is someone going to leave Spotify, Rdio, or Google Play Music because Apple Music has celebrities curating playlists? I doubt it.

    Celebrity DJ's (like the Royals and Kardashians reffed above) are a minor form of American icons themselves who also (IMO) generally add value by the sheer virtue being well-known for what they do more than by how much better they (ostensibly) are at doing it than legions of non-famous ones... ...who've created lots of good to amazing musical experiences for me on nights where they may have made $200.  



    So no, they're not gonna move me.

     

    But I'm a plebe... ...and singularly unimpressed by status or status symbols... ...who's generally quite happy with the free "tunable/trainable" algorithmic mixes on I????Radio or the current (if soon to be deprecated or cancelled or mutated?) iTunes Radio stations, or Google Instant Mixes of my uploaded collection, or the iTunes genius analog... ...and just see the ladling of such money to these folks, even if it's key to helping Apple prosper and grow given the things that drive mass consumer behavior, as a new part of the Apple Tax I pay.....



    ...they've hitched their star on becoming the world's premier "life-style" brand.... ....and that's increasingly the engine that allows them to be able to lavish attention on details and bring out lots of good to great products....



    So all they have to do is move enough other people to make this pay off, and then what my "non-target demo" becomes irrelevant, and Drake (and Angela Ehrendts and other "name aquihires") will have earned their deca-millions for the year. Even if their touches mean bupkus to me.



    The question of how many influenceables there are is still up for grabs.  But I suspect you're right to doubt that this will be strategic - tactical maybe, but major, no....

  • Reply 24 of 43
    lightknightlightknight Posts: 2,312member
    Whatever whitefalcon may say, it's not a service available in Europe (or China...). Why would Apple users care? It's an American service, now also available in Australia.
    As Apple's page says: "iTunes Radio is not available in all territories and requires iOS 7 (or later) or iTunes 11.1 (or later)."

    I do actually hope they launch planetwide, but in the meantime, it's a nice thing that is totally useless to non US/Aussies.
  • Reply 25 of 43
    lightknightlightknight Posts: 2,312member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post





    Your point is what? All such things take time to roll out.



    The point is that Whitefalcon is being inconsequent. Yes, these things take time to roll out. No, they shouldn't be advertised as a sales point, because to most of the customers, they're NOT a sales point at all, due to they're not available.

  • Reply 26 of 43
    singularitysingularity Posts: 1,328member
    Your point is what? All such things take time to roll out.
    Almost 2 years to the date and they have launched it in a total of 2 countries..... it's a good job I'm not holding my breath, but you never know they might launched his in another country sometime. Is there launch strategy linked to tectonic plate speeds.
  • Reply 27 of 43
    michael scripmichael scrip Posts: 1,916member
    rogifan wrote: »
    i wonder how much this will matter to people. Is someone going to leave Spotify, Rdio, or Google Play Music because Apple Music has celebrities curating playlists? I doubt it.

    Streaming music is still in the infancy stage.

    There will be more people signing up for their first streaming service rather than switching from one service to another.

    Spotify has 60 million users (and of those... only 15 million who pay for it)

    But that's tiny compared to the billions of music-capable devices there are in the world.

    If you already use Spotify, Rdio, etc... and you like it... you probably won't leave. But think of all the people who have never used a streaming service. That's a huge untapped market.

    And that's probably who Apple is targeting with these guest DJs.
  • Reply 28 of 43
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post



    *cue complaints the current service is US only* (it's not)

    *cue complaints Apple shouldn't work with these people* (who do you suggest, more U2? Bob Dylan again?)

    *cue Spotify fans claiming they'll never switch* (they will in six months)



    I've come to enjoy iTunes Radio, though some playlists need more frequent refreshes (Classical Chill is a favorite but it seems to repeat a lot). Looking forward to the new service.

    How can you possibly say with certainty that Spotify users will switch? You absolutely cannot guarantee that especially considering that Apple hasn't announced the product yet. I know for me personally I couldn't care less about personalities and DJ's. I listen to the music I want and I absolutely couldn't care less about hearing someone talk or recommend me music. If I wanted that, I'd listen to the radio. 

  • Reply 29 of 43
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Streaming music is still in the infancy stage.

    There will be more people signing up for their first streaming service rather than switching from one service to another.

    Spotify has 60 million users (and of those... only 15 million who pay for it)

    But that's tiny compared to the billions of music-capable devices there are in the world.

    If you already use Spotify, Rdio, etc... and you like it... you probably won't leave. But think of all the people who have never used a streaming service. That's a huge untapped market.

    And that's probably who Apple is targeting with these guest DJs.

    I honestly wonder how many people care. I just don't know if it's a big deal like it was when the iPod first launched. And I'm not convinced that spending millions on guest DJs is going to attract people to sign up. A cheaper price point might but it sounds like the record labels won't go for it. Personally I think Apple should have taken Google's approach: build a decent streaming music service with generous cloud storage options. But I don't think they needed to spend $3B+ to do it. Of the things Apple should be focusing on I don't think human music curation is in the top 5.
  • Reply 30 of 43
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post



    i wonder how much this will matter to people. Is someone going to leave Spotify, Rdio, or Google Play Music because Apple Music has celebrities curating playlists? I doubt it.

    I know for me personally I couldn't care less. I listen to the music I want and the last thing I'm looking for is a curated playlist. I like a variety of music and I enjoy the fact that it's my own taste. 

  • Reply 31 of 43
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    MathieuLLF wrote: »
    How can you possibly say with certainty that Spotify users will switch? You absolutely cannot guarantee that especially considering that Apple hasn't announced the product yet. I know for me personally I couldn't care less about personalities and DJ's. I listen to the music I want and I absolutely couldn't care less about hearing someone talk or recommend me music. If I wanted that, I'd listen to the radio. 

    Agreed. I am a Spotify user and have no interest in switching. But like you I listen to what I want and am not so interested in a celebrity curating music for me. Apple is clearly going all in on that. We'll soon see if they're right.
  • Reply 32 of 43
    saareksaarek Posts: 1,520member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post





    Your point is what? All such things take time to roll out.



    I think that what annoys peope in general, and certainly me as an individual, is that Apple charges more for their items outside of the USA (which is their right, of course, as a business) and yet only supplies part of the overall experience.

     

    Apple goes out of their way to ensure that a feature is ready for the US launch of an iDevice and then puts far less effort into getting this feature out to the rest of the world.

     

    It's not just iTunes Radio, Apple Map's was and in some cases still is, especially poor outside of the US with regions that weren't even in colour for a long time. Apple Pay is hardly being pushed through quickly, the list goes on.

  • Reply 33 of 43

    I think every company know that the product will work only if the customers like that product, so my suggestion is that make some survey, so that you come to know about the taste of people.

  • Reply 34 of 43
    thewhitefalconthewhitefalcon Posts: 4,453member

    The point is that Whitefalcon is being inconsequent. Yes, these things take time to roll out. No, they shouldn't be advertised as a sales point, because to most of the customers, they're NOT a sales point at all, due to they're not available.

    Oh dear, I hate being inconsequent...
  • Reply 35 of 43
    lightknightlightknight Posts: 2,312member
    Oh dear, I hate being inconsequent...

    I hope I did not use the wrong word? I did not mean it as a personal criticism, I was disagreeing with your point. Saarek said pretty much what I think :)
  • Reply 36 of 43
    bsw123bsw123 Posts: 1member
    How does Drake get mentioned in the same headline as two geniuses. Drake just ask Apple for a free watch. Cuz you know he started from the bottom. With a career on TV and growed up in a Forest Hill mansion.
  • Reply 37 of 43
    sirlance99sirlance99 Posts: 1,293member
    *cue complaints the current service is US only* (it's not)
    *cue complaints Apple shouldn't work with these people* (who do you suggest, more U2? Bob Dylan again?)
    *cue Spotify fans claiming they'll never switch* (they will in six months)

    I've come to enjoy iTunes Radio, though some playlists need more frequent refreshes (Classical Chill is a favorite but it seems to repeat a lot). Looking forward to the new service.

    I think you're wrong that people will switch. The people that have Spotify or Google Play Music have deep personalized play list and like the service they have. I know I'll never switch as I throughly enjoy Google Play Music. $8 a month with Songza curated play list by real people and the ability to listen to anything I want whenever and more importantly to me on whatever device I want.

    I might try it I'd there is a free trial but have no plans on giving any money towards it. I don't care about guest djs either. Unless this new service has many things others don't# which I doubt it, I'm fine right where I am.
  • Reply 38 of 43
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    rogifan wrote: »
    I honestly wonder how many people care. I just don't know if it's a big deal like it was when the iPod first launched. And I'm not convinced that spending millions on guest DJs is going to attract people to sign up. A cheaper price point might but it sounds like the record labels won't go for it. Personally I think Apple should have taken Google's approach: build a decent streaming music service with generous cloud storage options. But I don't think they needed to spend $3B+ to do it. Of the things Apple should be focusing on I don't think human music curation is in the top 5.

    ...not this again.

    You always criticized Apple for "paying 3B for headphones". Now you say they shouldn't have paid this much for music streaming.
    Which one is it? Or was it a better deal than you guys like to admit?

    As far as switching goes, I can bet half the people who say they won't switch actually WILL.

    Apple actually cares about music and has become a music company. Unlike other companies who are only interested in capitalizing off Apple's ideas and give artists crap for their work.

    You can bet Apple is putting much thought and care into their service.

    After all, who pays 3B+ to develop a music service?
  • Reply 39 of 43
    sirlance99sirlance99 Posts: 1,293member
    cali wrote: »
    ...not this again.

    You always criticized Apple for "paying 3B for headphones". Now you say they shouldn't have paid this much for music streaming.
    Which one is it? Or was it a better deal than you guys like to admit?

    As far as switching goes, I can bet half the people who say they won't switch actually WILL.

    Apple actually cares about music and has become a music company. Unlike other companies who are only interested in capitalizing off Apple's ideas and give artists crap for their work.

    You can bet Apple is putting much thought and care into their service.

    After all, who pays 3B+ to develop a music service?

    I'll take that bet. I think you're giving too much credit to Apple for something that's already been done. Apple will have to provide something extremely mind blowing to get people to switch.

    If it's the same price and does the same thing, which is stream music, than why switch?
  • Reply 40 of 43
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    I have never heard of either of these people! Ok back in the cave I go ...
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