Comparing Apple Music with Spotify

Without government restrictions, lucrative innovations in an emerging market tends to bring a large following of hopeful adopters, stirring the pot of competition. This heightened rivalry, in a free market economy, often benefits consumers rather than merchandisers. That being said, the current battle between a few music streaming services will be an interesting one to watch. Since its rise to popularity, Swedish provider Spotify has largely reaped the benefits from this subscription-type service. However, the past few months has seen the genesis of true competition — notably the advent of Apple Music.

The Cupertino-based company has had a successful history in taking pre-existing technologies and improving them beyond measure, consequently helping them amass an incredibly loyal and immense following. Now, the company is leveraging its past successes with their latest foray — Apple Music. This new service seamlessly blends into a variety of widely used Mac and iOS products, including a compulsory merge into iTunes and an automatic update onto iPhones, as well as a convenient transfer of Apple ID account information for subscriptions and other purchases.

In addition, the tech giant has also been making good use of its $178 billion USD in cash reserves, hiring a slew of high-profile personalities for its new Beats 1 radio station. These individuals include award-winning former-BBC DJ Zane Lowe; respected urban radio presenter Ebro Darden from Hot 97; UK underground radio host Julie Adenuga; international hip-hop star Drake; popular social media personality Josh “The Fat Jew” Ostrovsky; and the enigmatic Jaden Smith; with many others on the way.

With a competitive advantage as strong as Apple’s (enough to warrant an investigation by the FTC), the future business landscape presents an interesting case study. We recently asked a few music streaming service subscriber friends over at HYPEBEAST to give their thoughts on Apple Music and Spotify, and how they see the rivalry unfold between Apple and its competitors. Take a look at their answers below.

Helena – Editorial

Have you considered switching to Apple Music, or have you already done so?

Yes, I have done so but haven’t completely weaned off Spotify.

What are your favorite features about Spotify?

Making playlists, curated playlists, podcasts, ability to easily find any music and to “follow” people, sharing playlists.

What are the most distinct changes that you’ve noticed from Apple Music?

It’s not iTunes anymore. I stopped downloading music and used only iTunes or Spotify. The thing I love about it being a part of Apple’s arsenal is that I know it’ll be easily connected among all my Apple devices.

What do you think of Beats 1?

This might be the only reason why I would switch over to Apple Music. It’s amazing. It’s Apple Music’s main component that differentiates it from other streaming services. This new approach of radio is refreshing because it offers a great music selection in a simple, convenient way. You can passively tune in without any major effort.

Are you satisfied with your experience with Spotify? If not, what changes would you suggest?

Yes, I am. Except they don’t have a watch app, so I can’t go running without my phone. Quite a smart move of Apple to not have them make one though, because I might stay on Spotify. (Laughs)

How do you see the future landscape of music streaming services?

I think Apple music will take the cake. Its audience is already built for them, millions of people use Apple devices. I think it would be interesting to see how non-Apple users view this though, or whether they would stick with google play or Spotify.

Alamby – Video

Have you considered switching to Apple Music, or have you already done so?

I might, but I’m on Spotify Premium already, and not planning to switch unless Apple Music has some distinctly good features other apps don’t.

What are your favorite features about Spotify?

The vast list of music choices, suggested playlists, and song recommendations.

Are you satisfied with your experience with Spotify? If not, what changes would you suggest?

Very happy with it.

Stanley – Photography

Have you considered switching to Apple Music, or have you already done so?

Maybe but most likely not. I wasn’t fond of streaming music to begin with. I prefer owning and organizing music myself. A lot of the music I listen to isn’t on any music streaming services. However, if I were to use Apple Music, it would be because of sheer convenience and its ecosystem as I use iTunes a lot. A huge plus for me would be the ability to have my own collection side-by-side with music from Apple’s catalog.

What are you favorite features about Spotify?

I don’t use Spotify. I find the interface a bit too much and convoluted. It wasn’t very good at predicting what I’d like to listen to, but I guess for me this applies to anywhere else that algorithmically does song recommendation and prediction.

What do you think of Beats 1?

I’m aware of it and I have listened to a show or two already which I think it’s amazing.

How do you see the future landscape of music streaming services?

I think Apple Music’s foray into the music streaming service competition will definitely shake the game up a bit, which would be interesting to watch. As far as the future landscape goes, I’m not supportive of the way with major labels in their dealings with streaming services, who are the ones swimming in piles of money, and artists are the ones who continually get cheated from royalties and bad licensing deals. This is why I prefer to purchase music directly from artists and independent labels themselves.

Kate – Print

Have you considered switching to Apple Music, or have you already done so?

I have been using Apple Music for one week now and might continue to do so.

What are the most distinct changes that you’ve noticed from Apple Music?

The first must be the radio. And I can add into my playlist any new songs I like from Beats 1 radio.

What do you think of Beats 1 Radio?

The radio is the main reason I switched to Apple Music. I think it’s a good idea to have DJs select good songs and we can listen to them 24/7.

I will give it 7 out of 10 to the radio. At first, it wasn’t easy to use Apple Music. The first two days I spent doing some research.

What are your favorite features about Spotify?

I can see what my friends like to hear and mixing songs that I like in one playlist without too much effort.

Are you satisfied with your experience with Spotify? If not, what changes would you suggest?

Spotify is great when I want to listen to songs that I’ve never heard before or listen to my friends’ playlist and make fun of them. However, most of the time, I will end up listening to my own playlist.

How do you see the future landscape of music streaming services?

Streaming services alone are not attractive enough. It will still use my data, even if it’s a reduced amount. If I want to discover new songs, I can do so more easily on the internet, which won’t eat up my data.

I like Spotify and Apple Music, but I will definitely love it the best when these two combine into one.

Ambrose – Editorial

Have you considered switching to Apple Music, or have you already done so?

No, although lately people have been trying to start convos with me on the subject. i.e “Ambrose, for $10 you get all this music.” I haven’t really looked into it as I still use Spotify for free.

What are your favorite features about Spotify?

Ummm, it’s just good at predicting what songs I’d like to listen to next and has good recommendations.

What are the most distinct changes that you’ve noticed from Apple Music?

Interface. It looks a bit too convoluted and very “Apple,” it’s the same reason why I did not buy an Apple watch. The superfluous options just make getting to the music THAT much more difficult.

What do you think of Beats 1?

I am aware of it but never got into it. I consume music in a particular way and really still prefer to download music while I am on the go. Streaming is only really used in a car, at a function or a gathering for me. I am stuck in my old ways.

Are you satisfied with your experience with Spotify? If not, what changes would you suggest?

Love it.

How do you see the future landscape of music streaming services?

Corporations making more money than a 2-for-1 ping pong show, contributing to the artist getting shafted harder than Richard Roundtree.