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Apple Music vs. Spotify: Can Apple Dethrone The KING?
Apple’s venturing into pastures a new with Apple Music. But can it take down the mighty Spotify?
Out of all the announcements at this years Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple’s new Apple Music streaming service was clearly the star of the show. It’s what Apple saved for its big “One More Thing” announcement and the company dedicated A LOT of time talking about it. Though the service was widely expected, that doesn’t mean the leading streaming music services aren’t a bit shell shocked.
But this move has been a long time coming. Apple’s once great iTunes business model has been in decline for years, following the rapid growth of streaming services like Spotify which have dramatically changed the way consumers perceive buying and consuming music –– an album costs £15 on iTunes but on Spotify you pay £10 a month and can listen to potentially thousands of albums. Put like that it’s a no-brainer why so many people now stream their music from Spotify.
Still the advent of Apple into the music streaming space is a very BIG deal. The company controls billions of mobile devices around the globe, making it very easy for it to push out new software. The fact that Apple Music is cross platform, meaning it’ll work on Android, makes the prospect of Apple in the streaming space that little bit scarier for the likes of Spotfiy and Google.
“I absolutely think we will see a streaming music service,” Gartner analyst Van Baker told AFP. “Apple is late to the game on this but it may not matter.”
Matter of fact, you can tell Spotify–the world’s #1 streaming music service–is understandably worried about this new competitor by the overly positive blog post it put out after Apple’s unveil. In is the company stated: “What a difference a year makes! At the end of May 2014, we reached 10 million paying subscribers and 40 million active users. Today, we have reached more than 20 million subscribers and more than 75 million active users. 10 million subscribers in our first five and a half years – and another 10 million subscribers in just a single year! That’s an average of one new subscriber every three seconds over the last year. Wow.”
Of course, Spotify does have the right to brag. People love its service and 20 million paying subscribers are a lot. But will that number decrease now that Apple Music is out? That depends is consumers see Apple Music as better than Spotify. We take a look at the two services to see how they compare.
Apple Music vs Spotify: Price
Here both services are essentially tied–at least for single users. Each costs $9.99USD a month. However, Spotify offers a free ad-supported tier, which Apple Music does not. Then again, Apple Music wins in the Family Plan department. Apple is only charging $14.99 a month for up to six users in the same household. Spotify charges an additional $5 per user on top of the $9.99 monthly rate. That means at the same $14.99 Apple Music pricing plan Spotify would only allow two users, where Apple allows six. Were you to match the six users on Spotify it would cost you $34.99 a month.
Both services also offer a free trial period. Spotify’s is one month. Apple Music gives you three months.
Apple Music vs Spotify: Platforms
Both services support a wide array of platforms and devices. Apple Music works on Macs, PCs, iOS devices, Android devices, and the Apple TV. Spotify works on Macs, PCs, Linux boxes, iOS devices, Android devices, Windows Phone devices, and Playstation.
Apple Music vs Spotify: Regional Availability
Spotify is, of course, available now in most of the America’s and the EU, along with some other countries. However, Apple kills it here, with Apple Music–when it becomes available on June 30th–being available in over 100 countries worldwide.
Apple Music vs Spotify: Content
Each service offers “over 30 million songs”. Yet Apple Music will have some artists Spotify does not, like mega-super-super-superstar Taylor Swift who famously left Spotify earlier this year because she said free music streaming was demeaning music. As Apple Music doesn’t offer a free tier, it seems Swift is happy there.
It’s not clear whether each service will try to get exclusives going forwards (we hope not).
Apple Music vs Spotify: Radio
Here the two services could not be more different. Spotify has on-demand user-created radio stations. These radio stations are essentially automatic playlists created by algorithms. Generally they are great for playing the types of music you love, but their big drawback is you’re never going to hear a song that’s radically different from your tastes, but one that you end up loving.
Apple hopes to address that discovery issue with its Apple Music radio features. Named Beats 1, the radio station is actually a bonafide, real radio station. It’s live 24 hours a day and broadcasts from three locations–New York, Los Angeles, and London. Apple has signed up well known DJs to head the exclusive live content including interviews, guest hosts and “the best of what’s going on in the world of music.”
It’s with Beats 1 and its human DJ’s that Apple hopes to really put the sense of discovery back into music, which has become an area heavily dictated by algorithms in recent years.
Apple Music vs Spotify: Verdict
As someone who’s never been interested in streaming music services before I think it’s clear Apple Music is in a very good position to be labeled the “winner” here–I mean, it’s got me interested and seriously thinking about signing up for the $9.99 per month subscription.
Though the content is basically the same and both Apple Music and Spotify works on the devices I own (Mac, iOS, and Android)–and though both single user plans cost the same price–it’s the Beats 1 radio station and the human touch that has got me really excited about Apple Music. To be able to actually listen to a global radio station with headliner DJs 24 hours a day is, I think, amazing.
It’s the little (or not so little, in this case) extras like that which is why I believe Apple Music will quickly hit Apple’s stated goal of 100 million subscribers by the end of the year–and why it appears to be the winner in the battle of the music streaming giants.
Michael Grothaus
15:54, 12 Jun 2015