Posted March 21, 201213 yr http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...umor-at-sxs.DTL At the SXSW Music show this year, people are buzzing that Apple is getting close to launching a subscription music service to take on Spotify. An exec in the digital music business told us an announcement could be coming in days. Digital Music News also reported hearing this buzz from multiple execs at the show. http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2012/120315latest2 And of all the rumors floating around, this has to be the juiciest: executives keep pointing to a possible on-demand streaming service ahead from Apple, including a tight tie-in with iCloud and iMatch. That would present a huge problem to players like Rhapsody and Spotify, though Apple is playing it characteristically mum. "Apple doesn't like to lose in any category, they like to dominate," one executive noted. It's just a matter of WHEN not IF. And when it does happen, it will be a HUGE turning point for subscription music. Billboard Hot 100 counting on-demand streaming is probably another turning point. Spotify is taking off (~$600 million a year in revenue). It grew from 1 million to 3 million in a space of ~10 months (March 2011 to Jan 2012). January, 2010:------------ 250,000 paid subscribers March 17, 2010:----------- 320,000 July 20, 2010: ---------------- 500,000 December 8, 2010: ------ 750,000 March 8, 2011:--------------- 1,000,000 July 14, 2011: -----------------1,600,000 Sept 21, 2011: ---------------- 2,000,000 Nov 23, 2011: ------------------2,500,000 Jan 26, 2012: -------------------3,000,000 It's no surprise that Itunes/Apple is working on a subscription service in order to compete.
March 23, 201213 yr Author PC Magazine has this quote: "If you do not own the music but can listen to it all you want, what's the difference? Why be bothered with the burden of ownership? This is the sociological paradigm shift that Spotify has discovered. This is a hot trend to watch."http://www.zdnet.com/blog/apple/dear-spoti...-but-8230/12615 Spotify Premium is one of my favorite subscription music services, it’s like having every song in the iTunes Music Store in your library. And instead of song previews, you can stream any song. All of it. Spotify Premium ($10/month) has over 15 million tracks, an offline mode, no ads and 320 kbps streams. The future is "subscription." With Apple/Itunes on board, it will gain prominent even more quickly.
March 23, 201213 yr The future is "subscription." For some perhaps, but I prefer actually owning music - and besides, I don't download anything like enough music for any kind of regular sub to be worthwhile.
March 23, 201213 yr This is really a bit of a tangent, but if Apple do this, I think it would be a good idea for the Big Top 40 Show to be based off that chart instead of that mess they have now. It would help advertise the service (as there'd essentially be a 3 hour show on over 100 radio stations every week devoted to it), and it's still the same company that gives them the data I guess. And they should scrap the airplay compenent since the chart would be slow enough as it is if it's based on streaming, and then people would actually be able to understand how it works then.
March 24, 201213 yr i'm sure itunes sales will decrease 20% year on year after that.... why bother buy a track that u can listen to whenever & wherever u want???? streaming, after illegal downloading, will help kill the already dying music industry....
March 24, 201213 yr i'm sure itunes sales will decrease 20% year on year after that.... why bother buy a track that u can listen to whenever & wherever u want???? streaming, after illegal downloading, will help kill the already dying music industry.... How ironic, given that I've just been converting 30yo vinyl albums, where the sleeves all say 'home taping is killing music'... :lol:
March 24, 201213 yr The future is "subscription." With Apple/Itunes on board, it will gain prominent even more quickly. In the end its going to end up subscription, as Streaming is the way of the future, I must admit I do like the physical format of actually owning an album or DVD, but I'm literally running out of space to store DVDs and CDs. My brother has a brand new TV and he can actually stream any DVD or CD thru his computer and watch or listen on his TV with a device of some sorts.
March 25, 201213 yr Author i'm sure itunes sales will decrease 20% year on year after that.... why bother buy a track that u can listen to whenever & wherever u want???? streaming, after illegal downloading, will help kill the already dying music industry.... what do you know that the music executives don't? They would love for subscription like Spotify to take of.. because it generates the most money per subscribers. Using USA #: Spotify: $110 a year per subscriber Itunes: $40-50 a year per downloader The average American spend $22.5 a year on recorded music.
March 25, 201213 yr what do you know that the music executives don't? They would love for subscription like Spotify to take of.. because it generates the most money per subscribers. Using USA #: Spotify: $110 a year per subscriber Itunes: $40-50 a year per downloader The average American spend $22.5 a year on recorded music. That's hardly the whole story though - there are many people who only download occasionally, for whom a subcription music service would be a total waste of money. For that reason, I'm sure there'll always be a means available for one-off purchases.
March 25, 201213 yr That's hardly the whole story though - there are many people who only download occasionally, for whom a subcription music service would be a total waste of money. For that reason, I'm sure there'll always be a means available for one-off purchases. Agreed. Like you, I don't download enough to make such a subscription worthwhile. There will always be a means for the casual music buyer to obtain individual tracks. If subscription really does take off this will be seen like a 'pay as you go' mobile service. There will always be a market for it.
March 25, 201213 yr Agreed. Like you, I don't download enough to make such a subscription worthwhile. There will always be a means for the casual music buyer to obtain individual tracks. If subscription really does take off this will be seen like a 'pay as you go' mobile service. There will always be a market for it. Looking at the Spotify subscription prices, I wouldn't even reach the cheaper £4.99/month level of sales - and there's no way I'd put up with the adverts on the sub-free option! :(
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