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Apple Music Overtakes Spotify in U.S. Subscribers
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 8y agoFor me the big reason I went with Apple Music is CarPlay. It it so nice to just push a button on the steering wheel and say “Hey Siri play <Song|Album> by <Artist>“
- whalesalad 8y agoThis is very surprising. The integration on iOS is unmatched (duh) but everything about Spotify is better.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- calewis 8y agoI agree but wonder if this is a sign of music streaming becoming a utility? Do most users care about sophisticated discovery and recommendation engines? Or do they just want billboard 100 hits?
- ghaff 8y agoI think that is exactly it. For a pretty casual music listener like myself, I don't find a whit of difference between Apple Music and Spotify. Not that I've made a deep study of it, but then I'm a casual user. Given that I'm pretty much all in on Apple otherwise, Apple Music seems like the natural choice to me.
- malvosenior 8y agoI've actually found Apple Music and Spotify to have around the same quality recommendations. Both have a Discover Weekly feature, both will let you create "stations" from a song or artist. Neither are great or innovative in any way but they sort of get the job done. The recommendations are miles ahead of YouTube but that's not saying much.
- notyourwork 8y agoWhat about Amazon Music? It has all those same features.
- village-idiot 8y agoAmazon music has two variants, the kind that comes with prime, and unlimited. The unlimited variety is price competitive with Apple Music I believe. My experience with the prime version has been poor. Aside from selection, it is just not a well written service. Replay bugs are common, and it regularly decides to change what station I was listening to for no discernible reason. The “stations” are clearly just playlists, because if you listen long enough they end up looping. If it wasn’t free, I wouldn’t use it.
- ymolodtsov 8y agoApple Music is mostly human-curated, Spotify is programmatic. That’s why I prefer thr latter.
- malvosenior 8y agoThat's incorrect. Apple Music have a lot of programmatic recommendations. New Music Mix is programmatic. As is clicking on any song and creation a station from it.
- weeksie 8y agoI find apple music's recommendations better than Spotify's.
- kccqzy 8y agoI still find Pandora to have the best recommendation engine in that it actually finds songs I like.
- cmpb 8y agoI listen to some relatively obscure music, and Spotify never seems to have what I'm looking for, and if they do it's usually only their latest or most popular album. I switched to Apple Music over a year ago and their catalog seems drastically more complete.
- spectramax 8y agoI also like how well it integrates with Homepod. Homepod hasn't been well received but I personally love it. It can hear me from 30 feet away and it sounds incredible!
- whalesalad 8y agoThat is very interesting to hear. I should probably take it for a spin, then. The mobile app doesn't seem too bad but the thought of using iTunes again is dreadful.
- bjtitus 8y agoApple Music does have a larger library. I also think both of the services have reached a point of "good enough". If you want to stream and play music, they both work well enough.
- kbumsik 8y agoFor me Spotify is terrible. I don't know if it has been improved now but the UI experiences other than the look were unpolished and confusing. Worst of all, I didn't like the idea of playlist-based organizations over album-based organizations like iTunes/Apple Music. The songs were just so messy for minor music listeners like me.
- mortenjorck 8y agoI still don’t understand how Spotify doesn’t invest more in its iOS experience. Sure, they don’t have access to Siri, but that’s the only thing outside their control: The Spotify app takes far too long to load for a music player, even on an iPhone XS; the UI takes a one-size-fits-all approach to list views that looks slapdash compared to Apple Music’s nice album view; the now-playing screen is cluttered and still inexplicably hides the status bar on modern, large phones. And don’t get me started on how they threw away their excellent iPad UI in favor of a blown-up version of the phone UI. If Spotify is losing to Apple Music, the answer is a better core experience, not bundling Hulu.
- justwalt 8y agoThe things I hate about the Apple app are the fact I can’t swipe from the left to queue a new song, and the fact that if you’re shuffling all songs then you simply can’t use the play next feature at all. That ability did exist at one point, along with play last (it would queue a song at the end of the play next queue, but before the rest of the shuffled songs), but it’s been removed since iOS 9 or 10 now.
- InterimNew 8y agoI'm not sure when you last checked, but you can add songs either next in the queue or at the end of the queue when shuffling songs. I've just tested this on iOS 12.2. While you can't swipe to queue, you can force-touch on a song to bring up the quick menu, and then release over 'play-next'. A different gesture, but still a single gesture/tap.
- justwalt 8y agoYou're right, I just tested as well. Thanks for letting me know!
- jpincheira 8y agoI'd say Apple's iOS apps are mostly the best, and sadly also because of access to private APIs. Never really digged the über dark theme of Spotify, used to be less dark —and nicer to my taste— when I started using it back in 2008 on macOS –when they _did_ have a native app.
- unstatusthequo 8y agoExcept uploading my own music and the library. I found a lot of "unavailable" songs in Spotify and ditched them.
- WisNorCan 8y agoI am one of the people contributing to this trend. I tried Spotify first and switched to Apple Music. The family plan and my Sonos speakers just didn’t work on Spotify. Maybe they fixed, but I have no reason to check. Just works is such a huge selling point for most consumers.
- anbop 8y agoYes, but “just works” is because Apple allows itself preferential Siri integration, which would be an antitrust case if the Justice Department was worth a shit.
- groovybits 8y agoI'm curious, what about Spotify does not work with your Sonos speakers? I have a pair of Sonos Play 1 speakers in the house and have not had any issues with Spotify for the past few months.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- jpincheira 8y agoWow, very interesting. Never actually thought Apple would win the US music subscription market. I am though a user myself of Apple Music, and the app I must say, on iOS, is way better, and the no. 1 reason I switched from Spotify when Apple Music launched.
- matwood 8y agoI switched from GPM when AM launched. GPM was fine, but like many things google it had little direction. Is it even going to stay around or will youtube music be the new thing? Dunno. AM works fine and gives recommendations that I like. I also rarely run into music that's not on AM like I used to do on Spotify. AM can also be purchased for the year for $99. Combine that with a $100 iTunes gift card that can often be found for $85 or even $80 (often around Christmas time), and unlimited music for the year becomes rather inexpensive.
- TheMagicHorsey 8y agoApple abuses its position as platform gatekeeper to get its own products in front of its customers. Anyone who has used both products knows Spotify is objectively better in terms of music discovery and the social aspects of music. Not to mention, spotify works everywhere. Apple music only works on iOS and MacOS.
- cmpb 8y agoI use Apple Music on Windows daily.
- yankcrime 8y ago> Apple music only works on iOS and MacOS. False: https://musi.sh https://musi.sh
- ymolodtsov 8y agoThere are web versions based on the official API and the Android app.
- fetus8 8y agoI found that Spotify was worse at music discovery, and I use Apple Music across Windows, iOS, and macOS, with little to no trouble. The discovery features in Apple Music are seemingly more tuned into my varied tastes. When I tried Spotify last year, no matter what I listened to or added to my library, it kept recommending a small selection of Rap albums, even though I was listening to far more than just rap. Spotify latched onto one thing and just ran with it. I haven't seen Apple Music do that to my recommendations.
- pier25 8y agoApple Music works on Android too: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.android.music https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.andr...
- nikofeyn 8y agosaying it works on android is a bit generous. haha. i was paying for it and using it, but it was a terrible experience. apple music on android often couldn't even play music downloaded unless it had a screaming internet connection. i have no idea what the download feature was even for. and there were countless bugs and usability issues. maybe it's better now, but it was terrible around a year or two ago.
- giancarlostoro 8y agoI used to pay for Spotify, it was lame, didn't have all the music I wanted, then I got Google Play All Music Access, I have not needed anything else since. I assume Apple Music is similar enough. I've not had to pirate music in half a decade because it just works, and I can cache songs to my device too. I can see why Apple would dominate for iPhone / Apple users though.
- lostmyoldone 8y agoFor me Spotify is about a good/decent app no matter the platform, great/good recommendations - at least for me, and as far as I can tell, they are trying to innovate without completely forgetting their existing customers.
- antirez 8y agoI can't honestly, apple music like many apple services is impossible to use outside their ecosystem, while play music (which I use) I can use in my iPad and my Google pixel for instance. Apple is able to dominate the US market in ways very hard for me to understand, another example is iMessage.
- endorphone 8y agoThe iMessage domination is automatic -- if you message from an Apple device to a phone number that happens to be an Apple device (which the sender might be oblivious to), it's an iMessage. People aren't subscribing to iMessage, or intentionally choosing it, the thing is just the default in that case. Apple Music heavily pushed, on the device, a 3 month free trial, and it's about time that most of those 3 month trials expire. I imagine the number will drop substantially after.
- furyofantares 8y agoI was surprised when a young girl I know was asking for an iPhone over an Android specifically because of iMessage. I gather the main piece of functionality here is that other iPhone users she texts know that she’s using an iPhone. Gotta get that vanity blue text.
- guelo 8y agoI agree with Elizabeth Warren that Apple should not be allowed to do this. They create the marketplace and then compete in it giving themselves advantages that they deny other companies.
- artur_makly 8y agoBut doesn't Amazon do the exact same thing?
- fbelzile 8y agoYes. Amazon would also be impacted by Elizabeth Warren's plan.
- sanketskasar 8y agoAnd so does Google on Android. Sure you could argue about side loading apps using other Android app stores, but do they provide timely updates and security as Google Play Store?
- lostmyoldone 8y agoWhy wouldn't they? No matter the app store, I imagine the developers would want their users to have recent versions installed, at least the ones who would update them on Google Play.
- dvtrn 8y agoNot so sure I can buy in on the idea that Apple created the music streaming market. They own the iTunes platform, but the whole marketplace? That feels a bit hyperbolic to me.
- guelo 8y agoThe marketplace in this case is iPhone apps.
- 8y ago
- lskopwol 8y agoIs there any automated playlist converter to move from Spotify to Apple Music ??
- CedarMills 8y agoYes. I did this recently. I used SongShift (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/songshift/id1097974566 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/songshift/id1097974566).
- kccqzy 8y agoThis is another reason I miss iTunes. For all its faults and unintuitive UI, iTunes was highly scriptable.
- glerk 8y agoFor someone already invested in the Apple ecosystem, Apple Music makes the most sense because of the seamless integration. I don’t see the appeal of competitors given the similar pricing and features.
- justwalt 8y agoNo Apple Music on Linux is one for me.
- ranjeetbhatia 8y agoI was on Spotify and when apple music came did a quick check with 10 regional language songs from one state in India. Apple music had all 10 and Spotify missed 6-7 of those. Pretty unscientific but good enough for me to move to Apple Music.
- rvooda 8y agoYup. My reason exactly for moving to Apple Music. Its collection is huge; Spotify did not target other markets properly (In my dumb opinion)
- 93s6oz 8y agoCan you use Apple Music for free like you can do with Spotify?
- larrik 8y agoI don't think you can, and worse, iTunes used to have free radio stations that were pretty decent, but are now locked behind the Apple Music paywall. Radio is an area that Spotify falls flat on its face. If I want to listen to random holiday music, for instance, Spotify just sucks.
- votepaunchy 8y agoHow is it worse that with Apple Music artists are paid significantly more? And said artists are not being sued by Apple.
- larrik 8y agoI don't really see the connection between my comment and yours...
- CedarMills 8y agoI switched between Apple Music and Spotify. I transferred my playlists using SongShift. After some time, I personally enjoy Spotify more primarily due to social aspect + music discovery and ended up cancelling my Apple Music subscription after several months.
- caiob 8y agoThe only thing I don't like about Apple Music is iTunes.
- mjsweet 8y agoI was happily on Spotify for years and then we had kids. With no explicit filtering and repeated requests from many users (look up forums) to filter falling on deaf ears I had no choice but to move to iTunes. I just can’t have explicit language and lyrics blaring around the house with toddlers. It makes me sad because I loved the UX and selection in Spotify, as well as controlling playback from any device. Why Apple won’t allow you to control playback from anywhere is beyond me.
- kingosticks 8y agoSpotify (now?) supports this: https://support.spotify.com/us/using_spotify/system_settings/content-censor/ https://support.spotify.com/us/using_spotify/system_settings...
- mjsweet 8y agoWow this is great news! I may consider going back... will have to trial it for a month. Thanks for sharing!
- mjsweet 8y agoHere is a good overview: https://techaeris.com/2018/04/06/spotifiy-explicit-content-filter-testing-ios https://techaeris.com/2018/04/06/spotifiy-explicit-content-f...
- lostmyoldone 8y agoThis is an honest question. I'm from Sweden, have kids, but I have such a hard time understanding the issue with explicit language filters in this context. Why are the filters so important? What is the 'use case'? I'm also not surprised it's hard to get a Swedish founded company to introduce explicit filters. At least to me and my peers, the explicit words thing - beeps and all - is one of the most mystifying parts of US culture, especially since the same words also are so prominent in a lot of popular culture. So whatever culture you're from, getting a "Swedish" company to understand, and implement explicit filters is going to be an uphill battle because of this. Locally, they would probably also be considered old and stodgy if they did it, not unlikely it cost them quite a few of the younger users.
- zaro 8y agoWell I guess Spotify created this site https://timetoplayfair.com/ https://timetoplayfair.com/ for a reason.
- 40acres 8y agoApple's branding power can really provide solid leverage as they bolster services. I'm a Spotify subscriber but when Apple Music came out I considered getting an iPhone for the first time that year, ultimately I did not get an iPhone but I'm sure millions of users converted to be more integrated with the Apple environment.
- jammygit 8y agoI used to have a spotify subscription, but it felt weird to have nothing at the end of 6 months. I cancelled it and just started buying music regularly. I spend a lot less and I actually 'own' (ish) a decent sized library now.
- larrik 8y agoI did that. Then I went back to Spotify and simply do both.
- usrusr 8y agoI can relate to that. Given that the music industry as a whole just wants to maximise average spending per person, a package deal of a streaming subscription with a trickle of permanent licences added as the cherry on top could surely entice many to increase their spending to subscription level. Eligibility to once a month promote one favorite track to "keeper" or something like that. I doubt that it would cannibalize much, because I really think that pretty much everyone who currently buys some of the content they already pay for in a subscription is doing so for a physical copy (which would not be part of the cherry-on-top trickle). It also would not threaten the subscription, because the library one could build from that would not reach "cord cutting" volume even after a lifetime of trickle licences. As usual, it won't exist because content owners can never understand that they would not lose anything.
- CDSlice 8y agoWhere are you buying your music from? The iTunes store gives you DRM free files so you do truly own them.
- lmedinas 8y agoActually nowadays you can find really cheap CDs in Amazon (even more than iTunes)and of course rip it to FLAC or Mp3. Or when i can not find the CD in Amazon i usually get from 7digital.
- mlacks 8y agoIf they created the market, why is this a problem? In my head, it’s their market, so they can decide what to allow and provide, the same way Kirkland does at Costco. They’re not even a majority, let alone a monopoly. It’s anti competitive, but I don’t understand the need for outside intervention.
- holowire 8y agoIt's interesting to consider how commodified music streaming has become. I'd be interested to see how many people actually have any kind of loyalty to one platform over the other, or if their choice is more reflective of which one fulfills one or two preferential details better in this relative moment. Thinking about my personal choice, I choose Spotify over apple music because I like the library interface better. I also used Apple Music exclusively from launch until two years ago because I previously had a large local library of my own through iTunes. Both are great services, but once I transitioned into a fully streamed library, Spotfiy became more appealing to me for smaller and smaller reasons. My impression is that with the ubiquity of streaming and general consistency of quality, preference largely becomes a product of what platform is the most readily available. While I am fairly staunch in my preference for Spotify at the moment, but I am not sympathetic to their position against Apple's terms. I fully acknowledge that not all apps that operate in Apple's ecosystem are treated totally equally, but remember, equality and fairness are not the same thing. It is their ecosystem after all and it is in their best interest to be selective in how they maintain it. So while it Spotify may not be treated equally, it is my opinion that they are treated fairly within Apple's walled garden.
- ksec 8y agoIt is sad to see how Apple has turned form being better but not getting the MarketShares in the old days ( Mac ), to Now getting MarketShare but not having the better product ( Apple Music vs Spotify ) And in the new evidence of DHH's tweets and finding about MacBook Keyboard being much much worst than we thought. I am losing faith in Tim Cook's Apple.
- dano 8y agoStreaming music services will get dominated by the companies that have ancillary product revenues not directly related to music. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon will be the survivors in this race to the bottom as it makes little difference whether their music services are highly profitable or not. Before arguing with me about this, think about how little actual profit exists in Pandora and Spotify and how hard it would be to change that equation. It isn't that the big guys are predatory (maybe they are) it is that they make money selling something other than music, but music is a necessary part of making their other products complete. Making a profit from selling music in a service is a very tough business.
- nojvek 8y agoI still very much like Spotify. They have a superior product. I think Apple with it’s billions could probably fund a bigger library but I subscribed to Apple Music for 90 days and I didn’t have a great experience. If I was Spotify, I would continue investing to make the best music subscription product hands down.