First of all, Apple Music isn’t doing that bad. But they’re not doing really great either. We can thank increased competition, changing streaming habits, and celebrity disapproval for that. It’s time for an Apple streaming makeover.
Apple is making changes to Apple Music. They want to make it easier for all to use. Apple Music plans to better integrate streaming and downloading services as well as expand radio services. They will use a massive marketing campaign to get more customers to pay for Apple’s $10 a month streaming service. Nobody at Apple is confirming this, but tech insiders expect this and more to be revealed at their Worldwide Developers Conference in June. This is just Apple’s latest attempt to be #1 in the music streaming race. Two years ago, they purchased Beats Music, helping make Dr. Dre hip-hop’s possible first billionaire. They’re turning to seasoned musicians like Nine Inch Nails lead singer Trent Reznor to help with design. Apple CEO Tim Cook is banking on Apple Music because Apple stocks are in slow decline. So are iPhone sales. At first, Apple lead the charge going from physical to digital music. Now it’s struggling just to keep up. The year 2015 was the first year permanent download did better than streaming.
Then there’s competition. Spotify is gaining new subscribers and new backers. Jay Z’s Tidal, which costs $20 a month, just released Beyonce’s song “Lemonade,” which is breaking records on the charts. Kanye West’s “The Life of Pablo” album, released under Tidal, did very well. It debuted #1 on the charts and has been streamed over 250 million times. But don’t count Apple Music out yet. Taylor Swift openly criticized Apple for not paying artists enough. Now, she’s doing commercials for them. Drake released an album with Apple, which is doing almost as well as Kanye’s. Are we heading for an all out streaming war between Apple and Tidal?