Apple Music tops customer satisfaction in new JD Power study

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in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV
In terms of customer satisfaction, at least, Apple Music is the top-rated streaming music service, J.D. Power said in its first Streaming Music Satisfaction Study, published on Wednesday.









35 percent of polled Apple Music subscribers were "strongly committed" to it, according to J.D. Power's research data. Spotify and Google Play Music tied for second at 30 percent each.



62 percent of Apple's listership cited compatibility with their devices as a reason for signing up. Apple Music is baked into iOS and macOS, and while it can also be used on Android and Windows, some features -- like Siri voice commands -- won't work away from Apple devices. Google Play Music is integrated into Android, but only 53 percent of its customers cited compatibility as a reason to join -- one percentage point higher than Spotify, which is platform-independent.



Despite Apple's emphasis on exclusives, that appears to be doing little to draw in new customers, as only 5 percent of subscribers mentioned "original content" as a motivation -- the same level as Google Play Music. In fact, Google and TuneIn Radio tied for the highest levels of actual listening to exclusive content at 20 percent, two points higher than Apple.



Across all services though, J.D. Power noted that people who listened to exclusive content were more likely be satisfied, and/or recommend their service to others.



At a little over a year old, Apple Music already has over 17 million subscribers. It's still well distant of Pandora and Spotify, which have over 80 and 100 million people respectively, even if many listeners are using free ad-based tiers. Spotify, though, has over 40 million paid customers alone.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 16
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Poor MacRumors haters are gnashing their teeth. Must hate Apple. Must hate Apple. I think what's going to happen to Spotify is they'll peak at 60 to 80 million and then over time their numbers drop and they are acquired or tech companies take over and Apple just keeps gaining and overtakes them. Apple is weak on a few areas where they can copy Spotify easily. Spotify on the other hand don't get design and lack the launch platform Apple has.
    edited September 2016 magman1979
  • Reply 2 of 16
    I will agree to disagree with this.

    No matter how many times I press the "dislike" button on a song, Apple creates a weekly mix starting with that damn song ... and it gets thrown into every single suggestion known to man. Equally as annoying .... at the beginning of Apple Music I stated I disliked all R&B / Rap ... and guess what ... it's in my weekly mix too. So good. So very SATISFIED OVER HERE. :|
    caliRoger_Fingas
  • Reply 3 of 16
    Did the survey ask if they've tried other music streaming services? A lot of the users might not know there is an alternative. 

    Hell, we've run into a few users who think notifications are text messages, really! "Why are you send me text messages?" At this point, no user stupidity story surprises me.
  • Reply 4 of 16
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    The reason "exclusives" don't entice people to switch is because they last a pathetic week or two. I wouldn't call them exclusive at all.

    If my Spotify monthly membership is 3 weeks from renewal and a 2 week exclusive hits Apple Music there's no need to switch since it out will be on my service before it's time to renew.
  • Reply 5 of 16
    I will agree to disagree with this.

    No matter how many times I press the "dislike" button on a song, Apple creates a weekly mix starting with that damn song ... and it gets thrown into every single suggestion known to man. Equally as annoying .... at the beginning of Apple Music I stated I disliked all R&B / Rap ... and guess what ... it's in my weekly mix too. So good. So very SATISFIED OVER HERE. :|
    The algorithm places a higher value on what you tap LIKE on. Do you like anything? Saying you dislike something doesn't mean it won't get served up again. Even the confirmation message that pops up when you tap DISLIKE says it'll play "less songs like this one" not "we'll never play this song again."
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 16
    I only became a huge fan of streaming music after Apple Music was introduced. I gave Spotify a few tries, before and after Apple Music, but it just feels so unpolished and unappealing. Maybe it's just me but Spotify always makes me feel like I have connected to somebody's hard drive, where there are just piles of improperly sorted mp3 files. Plus no exclusives, questionable sound quality and no curated radio stations (Beats 1 isn't always perfect, but it easily became my #1 radio station these days). Personally I also had no issues with the original GUI, even though so many people complained about it, but now that they mostly unified the GUI across iOS / tvOS / iTunes, I love Apple Music that much more.
    cali
  • Reply 7 of 16
    Nothing about Spotify made sense to me when it started becoming popular. The premise of streaming music was just not clear.  So I stuck to purchasing through iTunes and enjoying my purchases in all the ways iTunes allowed me to. And then, in typical Apple fashion, all made sense all at once when Apple Music launched. Everything about streaming music made sense, and it completely reinvented what i love the most in my life, MUSIC. And i can share my passion, discover new artists etc. The delicious rabbit hole that Apple Music can be once I start delving into it, maybe chasing whats new in Argentina for instance, becomes an awesome trip of discovery. Apple Music is amazing so no wonder it tops that JD Power survey. And honestly, it feels that Apple is in my brain. iOS just made sense when i picked up my first iPhone 3GS, i instinctively knew my way around everywhere. In the same way, Apple Music introduced streaming music to me and "taught" me the significance of it. I came to realize the seismic shift that Spotify had started. It took Apple to clarify it to me their way, and they sure did a good job at just that - teaching.  
    kevin keewatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 16
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • Reply 9 of 16
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    sog35 said:
    I really like Apple music. Works perfectly with my iPhone/iPad/Mac/Watch/CarPlay


    Yep, and I have access to my entire music collection without taking up any space on my iPhone 6 because of iCloud. iTunes Match uploads my considerable collection of ripped CDs with no matching iTunes songs. It’s a unique genre not represented much at all on any music service, the Theatre or Cinema pipe organ.
  • Reply 10 of 16
    I can't live without Apple Music.

    It's a giant (well, it's almost the only one that have all the songs in the world) library in my fingertip. Do I care if I don't own any of those songs? No! I want to live free with less of possessions on my back. I stop buying songs and albums, since I hardly listen to them again after a year. Apple Music is perfect. I can listen to old songs again when feeling sentimental, I can listen to the current pop songs when it still stuck in my head, and I can discover new musics when I am feeling adventurous.

    It's limitless - and I love the sense of freedom.
    edited September 2016 kuduwatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 16
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    sog35 said:
    I will agree to disagree with this.

    No matter how many times I press the "dislike" button on a song, Apple creates a weekly mix starting with that damn song ... and it gets thrown into every single suggestion known to man. Equally as annoying .... at the beginning of Apple Music I stated I disliked all R&B / Rap ... and guess what ... it's in my weekly mix too. So good. So very SATISFIED OVER HERE. :|
    you like R&B, just admit it.
    Yeah, you are just listening to it wrong
  • Reply 12 of 16
    I will agree to disagree with this.

    No matter how many times I press the "dislike" button on a song, Apple creates a weekly mix starting with that damn song ... and it gets thrown into every single suggestion known to man. Equally as annoying .... at the beginning of Apple Music I stated I disliked all R&B / Rap ... and guess what ... it's in my weekly mix too. So good. So very SATISFIED OVER HERE. :|
    So hit the like button instead 
  • Reply 13 of 16
    wigbywigby Posts: 692member
    sog35 said:
    smaffei said:
    Did the survey ask if they've tried other music streaming services? A lot of the users might not know there is an alternative. 

    Hell, we've run into a few users who think notifications are text messages, really! "Why are you send me text messages?" At this point, no user stupidity story surprises me.
    So because Apple Music was #1 something must be wrong? Right?
    No but has anyone tried making playlists? It's completely broken and always adds multiple copies of the same album. Apple Music is the worst thing about iOS 10 for me. I had no issues with it in iOS 9.
  • Reply 14 of 16
    trydtryd Posts: 143member
    lkrupp said:
    sog35 said:
    I really like Apple music. Works perfectly with my iPhone/iPad/Mac/Watch/CarPlay


    Yep, and I have access to my entire music collection without taking up any space on my iPhone 6 because of iCloud. iTunes Match uploads my considerable collection of ripped CDs with no matching iTunes songs. It’s a unique genre not represented much at all on any music service, the Theatre or Cinema pipe organ.
    What is the size of your music library? Mine has 200 000+ songs. All ripped in ALAC (it is larger than 4 TB). Would I be able to use Match with this without loss of quality? I also have a lot of historical recordings from 1920 to 1950, with famous artists like Furtwängler, Weingartner, Arrau, Richter etc..., and I listen to a lot of music by unknown composers and medieval music from 1200-1400. How would this work on iTunes Match and Apple Music? I don't listen to pop or rock music from recent years.
  • Reply 15 of 16
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
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