I’m so tired of people saying that streaming music is a way for discovering new music. It really isn’t. I don’t know a single person use streaming to step out of her comfort zone and listen to some random artist all day. Not one. We always listen to what we know, what we have heard of, or at least something we are familiar with.
So when Trent Reznor, the guy who’s featured on the Apple Music film says, “…that place (Apple Music) can accommodate and support the artist who MAKE the music, not just the top tier artists, but the kids in their bedrooms too,” I went like, “oh really?” Then I was waiting for him to explain more, but the movie went immediately to the “cool” features that were essentially Spotify. I was let down.
Seriously, can we touch base on how you support the kids who make music in their bedrooms? Just saying that you will doesn’t mean anything. How? What’s your model? How you pay royalties? Where are your numbers? Why is it different or better than, let’s say, Spotify? Nothing. Saying nothing is not okay, dude.
And then it’s all of the same old story. We’ve been told a thousand times already. Apple Music does not give me any sense of transparency, not even a little bit. There is the user end, and there is the Apple end. The artists, stuck in the middle, are not getting paid. It’s basically an Apple version of Spotify, except Apple is much richer and probably able to pay a little more royalty money than Spotify. There is no new features whatsoever. There is no explanation about how it works or why it’s different. I’m tired of all the features that’s designed for “discovering music.” Seriously? Look at how people use Spotify! Once you have free on-demand music, you never go back. If Spotify crashes and burns some day, worst comes worst, Youtube is free. You really think that we are gonna use online radio THAT much? Pandora is already on its very last breathe. Radio in general only exists in cars, particularly when we are stuck in traffic, so maybe Apple is better off partnering its Beat 1 Radio with car manufacturers. We only use on-demand to listen to artists we already know. Even better, people are not going to paying more than $10/month for on-demand service, thanks to Spotify. And remind me, why should I switch from Spotify to Apple Music again? Oh, maybe if I had a family with three kids, who all happen to be iProduct users, that may saves me a little money…
When there is so much music going on, as a user, all I feel is that, I’m freaking lost. Not the feeling everyone advertises, as if I would have the entire world of music or something. It’s really like, how can I cut through all the noise to find the one song I want?
Welcome to the era of streaming. Side note, that sense of feeling lost and not belonging essentially sums up the modern life we are living in right now. We constantly find ourselves cutting through craps and searching for that ONE thing. It’s quite sad.
I know people are going to use Apple Music anyways. It’s a brand name, kind of like in the late 2000s when iPad first came around, people thought it was useless but still continue to buy and use it till this very day. I really hope this Apple Music thing is only an ugly version one, because it would be cool if some day, Apple can deliver what Trent says: accommodating and supporting the artists, including the kids who make music in their bedrooms.
Apple Music Film http://www.apple.com/music/films/