Apple Music hits 10M subscribers in four weeks, report says

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited August 2015
A day shy of its one-month anniversary, Apple Music has reeled in more than 10 million subscribers on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and iTunes, a report said Monday.




Anonymous sources connected to major music labels provided the supposed adoption numbers to HITS Daily Double, saying the swift and substantial uptake is surprising even for Apple. The data reportedly comes directly from Cupertino, which is sharing streaming statistics internally with content owners.

The report's veracity is questionable -- the site calls its main news section the "Rumor Mill" -- but 10 million subscribers in four weeks is within the realm of possibility for Apple's mammoth installed customer base. Earlier in July, for example, it was estimated that iOS 8.4 adoption hit 40 percent of compatible devices after just one week of availability. Apple Music launched at the end of June as part of iOS 8.4.

Lending credence to today's claims are remarks from Apple CEO Tim Cook, who last week during the company's third quarter conference call told investors that "millions and millions" have signed up for Apple Music's three-month trial. It remains to be seen whether trial users will make the jump to a paid single or family tier, or discontinue the service altogether.

The number compare favorably to competing streaming services like Spotify, which boasts about 20 million paying subscribers. Apple still has a ways to go before reaching Spotify's 75 million total active users or Pandora's 79.4 million. Unlike those services, which include metrics for free-to-stream tiers, Apple Music is completely subscription based.

Apple is rumored to be shooting for 100 million paying Apple Music subscribers, a lofty goal that would require not only new subscriber adds, but a significant number of switchers from other services.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 93
    tomhayestomhayes Posts: 128member

    And you can't cancel during the trial period either!<img class=" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies//lol.gif" /> 

     

    To be clear: I'm not passing judgement on the service, it's just weird they don't allow you to stop participating when you want to, and instead you have to wait it out.

  • Reply 2 of 93
    sflagelsflagel Posts: 803member
    tomhayes wrote: »
    And you can't cancel during the trial period either!:lol:

    Is anyone actually using it? You can't listen to albums, if certain sings on an album are duplicates from other albums, Apple Music does not play them. Pathetic.
  • Reply 3 of 93
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    I can believe that 10 million have signed up for now, but how many will remain once they need to pay for it? If they keep 80%, that would be impressive.
  • Reply 4 of 93
    kent909kent909 Posts: 731member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sflagel View Post





    Is anyone actually using it? You can't listen to albums, if certain sings on an album are duplicates from other albums, Apple Music does not play them. Pathetic.

    I am using it and I am playing albums almost exclusively.

  • Reply 5 of 93
    woochiferwoochifer Posts: 385member

    I'm actually surprised by how low that number is, given the three-week trial period. But, I guess that word got out about the extent to which Apple Music takes over your music collection.

     

    I chose to stick with iTunes Match, and not bother with trying out Apple Music. Way too many unknowns about how Apple Music will make changes to my existing music library, and whether these changes are irreversible should I choose to cancel Apple Music.

     

    Would be worth trying if Apple kept it somewhat separate from iTunes. But, the way that Apple Music entangles itself with iTunes libraries is just asking for trouble, especially if someone only wants to try Apple Music out. If I hadn't already invested a decade compiling and curating my digital music collection, Apple Music would be a slam dunk. As it stands, it's way too big a risk, considering how much time it took for me to get my collection and iTunes Match to work the way I want.

  • Reply 6 of 93
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    tomhayes wrote: »
    And you can't cancel during the trial period either!:lol:  

    To be clear: I'm not passing judgement on the service, it's just weird they don't allow you to stop participating when you want to, and instead you have to wait it out.

    I feel like I've had used other services with trial periods that don't let me quit paying for a zero sum account. It just stops working once the trial is over. Doesn't that make more sense than having the option to quit a free trial partway through from their back-end? What if the person then wants to continue using the service a week later and find they can't without paying? They would likely think "but I'm still within my 90 days," so I surely not put in some additional complications when it will simply run its course.

    woochifer wrote: »
    I'm actually surprised by how low that number is, given the three-week trial period. But, I guess that word got out about the extent to which Apple Music takes over your music collection.

    I chose to stick with iTunes Match, and not bother with trying out Apple Music. Way too many unknowns about how Apple Music will make changes to my existing music library, and whether these changes are irreversible should I choose to cancel Apple Music.

    Would be worth trying if Apple kept it somewhat separate from iTunes. But, the way that Apple Music entangles itself with iTunes libraries is just asking for trouble, especially if someone only wants to try Apple Music out. If I hadn't already invested a decade compiling and curating my digital music collection, Apple Music would be a slam dunk. As it stands, it's way too big a risk, considering how much time it took for me to get my collection and iTunes Match to work the way I want.

    The best way not to Dalrymple it is to maintain a local backup of all your content.
  • Reply 7 of 93
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,275member
    tomhayes: you can indeed cancel during the trial period. You visit your iTunes account page and turn off auto-renewal, then go into the iTunes/Music apps and turn off Apple Music. Done.

    sflagel: I'm not quite sure what you are talking about, but I listen to albums from Apple Music all day from the "For You" page, and though I've had issues with iTunes on my Mac, saved albums play fine for me on both the Mac and iOS devices. Haven't tried saving for offline listening, however, since I'm never offline.

    If it weren't for the iTunes bugs I would, thus far, rate this slightly higher than Spotify, because the recommendations are even better. Work out the bugs before the end of the trial, and they'll get my $15/month for our household. Otherwise, there are other options.
  • Reply 8 of 93
    solipsismy wrote: »
    The best way not to Dalrymple it is to maintain a local backup of all your content.

    1000
  • Reply 9 of 93
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Only 10 million? Surely there's more than 10 million people using 8.4 right now. Of course the real number will be how many stick with it once the free trial is over.
  • Reply 10 of 93
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    I don't get the relevance of that marketing tagline, [@]TheWhiteFalcon[/@]. Are you suggesting that one should blindly trust they will never have a problem or that Apple suggests we don't backup our systems?
  • Reply 11 of 93
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    1000

    I liked Marco Arment's quip about Apple Music.

    http://www.marco.org/2015/07/26/dont-order-the-fish
    And the iTunes app itself is the toxic hellstew.

    I don't expect the iTunes app to get better because as Jason Snell says, its too big to fail at this point. But hopefully some of the specific issues people are having will be resolved by the time the free trial is over.
  • Reply 12 of 93
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    melgross wrote: »
    I can believe that 10 million have signed up for now, but how many will remain once they need to pay for it? If they keep 80%, that would be impressive.

    What happens after the free trial if you haven't turned auto renewal off? Do you get an email from Apple saying you're going to be charged? Turning it off is buried in settings so it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of people have it on and don't even know it.
  • Reply 13 of 93
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    rogifan wrote: »
    What happens after the free trial if you haven't turned auto renewal off?

    It should be obvious what happens.
  • Reply 14 of 93
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    solipsismy wrote: »

    The best way not to Dalrymple it is to maintain a local backup of all your content.

    I don't know how many songs you have in your collection, but I have over 10,000. I have at least two external backups. But my worst nightmare would be to have to reconstruct everything, across multiple devices.

    Incidentally, if I can't trust Apple to manage Match, why should I trust any of their other storage/download/sync services, such as, say iCloud?
  • Reply 15 of 93
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    What happens after the free trial if you haven't turned auto renewal off? Do you get an email from Apple saying you're going to be charged? Turning it off is buried in settings so it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of people have it on and don't even know it.



    The Apple discussion forums are always full of clueless people asking how to turn their Netflix, Hulu, etc, subscriptions on or off. We’ll see a flood of whining crybabies complaining they didn’t authorize Apple to renew their subscriptions. I’ll go so far as to predict a class action lawsuit claiming Apple should have made Apple Music subscription renewals after the 30 day trial period opt-in rather than opt-out. And they would have a point because people are so clueless about this sort of thing.

     

    On the other hand I do always get an email reminding me that my Netflix subscription renewal is coming up, and I do get an email when my iTunes Match renewal is coming up.

  • Reply 16 of 93
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    I don't know how many songs you have in your collection, but I have over 10,000. I have at least two external backups. But my worst nightmare would be to have to reconstruct everything, across multiple devices.

    Why would you have to reconstruct anything if they are already constructed on your backups?
    Incidentally, if I can't trust Apple to manage Match, why should I trust any of their other storage/download/sync services, such as, say iCloud?

    I don't get this at all. If you can't trust one of Apple's cloud-based services why would you then trust another in their example? Furthermore, when has Apple ever given us the confidence to blindly trust all they do with cloud-based services?

    Dalrymple should have had his own local backups so he can easily fix his local iTunes library issue with a simple drag and drop of a single folder. The fact that he didn't even do the very minimal in proactive measures means he is not someone whose word in tech I will consider as expert, insightful, or in any other way worthwhile.
  • Reply 17 of 93
    I'm signed up. Barring upgrades however, I will not pay. So that only leaves 9,999,999 subscribers. Take that, Apple stock price! :-)
  • Reply 18 of 93
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    solipsismy wrote: »

    Why would you have to reconstruct anything if they are already constructed on your backups?
    ---
    I don't get this at all. If you can't trust one of Apple's cloud-based services why would you then trust another in their example? Furthermore, when has Apple ever given us the confidence to blindly trust all they do with cloud-based services?

    Dalrymple should have had his own local backups so he can easily fix his local iTunes library issue with a simple drag and drop of a single folder. The fact that he didn't even do the very minimal in proactive measures means he is not someone whose word in tech I will consider as expert, insightful, or in any other way worthwhile.

    It seems to me that you don't have very many songs in your library.
    ----
    Are you really ok with the possibility that the richest tech company in the world, with its incredible software heritage spanning many decades, is not capable to producing a reliable cloud-based product with an excellent, clutter-free interface? No let me restate that: not capable of producing the best damn cloud-based product with an excellent, clutter-free interface?

    Oh, and I couldn't care less about Dalrymple, whoever he is. I've never read his blog, and I don't plan to start.
  • Reply 19 of 93
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    It seems to me that you don't have very many songs in your library.

    And you gathered that because I proactively protect my content? :no:

    I'd say a better question is why do you think that a slow, cloud-based backup system that you don't control is somehow a good measure for having an extensive collection of anything? Local backups with HW you control that is considerably faster to sync and restore is the only real option for anything massive. Even if you feel your threat is from proximal theft or fire (both of which are very rare), you would still do a local backup along with your internetwork or cross-site intranetwork backups, or do a local backup that you then move offsite.
    Are you really ok with the possibility that the richest tech company in the world, with its incredible software heritage spanning many decades, is not capable to producing a reliable cloud-based product with an excellent, clutter-free interface? No let me restate that: not capable of producing the best damn cloud-based product with an excellent, clutter-free interface?

    Yes, I accept A) the reality of companies making mistakes, B) companies doing as little as possible to correct those mistakes based of an actuarial formula that determines both my value as as a customer and potential fall out from a lawsuit, and C) that if I don't do the shear minimum to protect my own content then I am at more to blame than some 1) internal cloud glitch, 2) some tragic data center destruction by nature, 3) a hacker group destroying an entire company's cloud data, 4) a hacker socially engineering a hack against my system, or anything else possible within cloud-based computing.

    Every single reader of this forum should be proactive in protecting their own data instead of blindly assuming that it's someone else's responsibility.

    Fortune favours the prepared. Your data! Your responsibility!
  • Reply 20 of 93
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Woochifer View Post

     

    I'm actually surprised by how low that number is, given the three-week trial period. But, I guess that word got out about the extent to which Apple Music takes over your music collection.

     

    I chose to stick with iTunes Match, and not bother with trying out Apple Music. Way too many unknowns about how Apple Music will make changes to my existing music library, and whether these changes are irreversible should I choose to cancel Apple Music.

     

    Would be worth trying if Apple kept it somewhat separate from iTunes. But, the way that Apple Music entangles itself with iTunes libraries is just asking for trouble, especially if someone only wants to try Apple Music out. If I hadn't already invested a decade compiling and curating my digital music collection, Apple Music would be a slam dunk. As it stands, it's way too big a risk, considering how much time it took for me to get my collection and iTunes Match to work the way I want.


     

    90% of people barely have a "music collection", and none that can''t be backed up inside 15 minutes by a simple copy. Mine is bigger than thig, I've got 25K songs with very extensive editing/curating of the tags and copying the whole thing out for safekeeping is about that long. I never really understood why people are so afraid of doing backups, especially these days when medium is cheap and disks and communication (usb3) fast.

     

    Avoiding hacks is why I still do hard copy (blue ray backup) backups (which I verify can be read so I don't back up hack encrypted files), once in a while. That way, even if my system is messed up beyond belief, I can recover from it in an evening; no sweat.

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