Apple Music doesn’t appear to be slowing Spotify’s growth at all, based on the number of paid subscribers the rival streaming service has added in 2016.
During the iPhone 7 event, Apple boasted that it has 17 million paid subscribers. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek fired shots back on Twitter this morning, revealing his company has more than twice as many paid music listeners.
September 14, 2005: Apple embraces exclusive music releases by debuting a digital EP from Coldplay on iTunes, featuring four previously unheard tracks from the enormously popular band.
100% of profits from the charity EP go to support victims of Hurricane Katrina. However, Apple’s ability to broker exclusive music deals with major record labels and popular artists shows that the company’s current exclusives-driven Apple Music strategy stretches back more than a decade.
Apple’s iOS 10 update for iPhones and iPads is the biggest software refresh the iPhone-maker has launched in years, adding a host of major and minor new features that completely change the iOS experience.
I’ve been using beta versions of iOS 10 on my iPhone 6s and iPad Pro since June. While some of the high-profile additions to Messages, Photos, Apple Music and Apple News aren’t totally mind-blowing, the smaller tweaks make all the difference. With iOS 10, using Apple’s devices is easier, faster and far more enjoyable than ever.
This is the big iOS update you’ve been waiting for, but not for all the reasons Apple thinks.
And they’re off! Less than 24 hours into the life of the iPhone 7, we’ve seen our first deal on it (sort of). You’ll find this surprising buy — plus the iPhone 6s, Apple Music and more — in this week’s best Apple deals.
CarPlay hasn’t taken off quite as quickly as Apple hoped for, but if you’re in the market for a brand-new BMW, you can finally get Apple’s car infotainment system on pretty much any new model.
But it’ll cost you.
By Brandon Shaw
I know, you’re tired of hearing, “Frank Ocean’s new album is amazing!!!” Me too. I’m interested less in the album itself, and more in what it means for the future of music.
With a pair of Apple Music exclusives, Frank Ocean pulled a fast one on his old record label — and shook up the the entire record industry. It’s the latest indicator that Apple sits at the center of a rapidly evolving music industry, where rules and strategies are changing by the minute. Now everyone from Spotify to Universal Music Group is frantically trying to figure out what to do.
Scoring an exclusive album deal with Apple Music can be highly lucrative for artists looking for independence, but it might come with some serious payback from Spotify, which is reportedly punishing musicians that sign such deals.
Musicians have been dragged into the fight between Apple and Spotify, according to new reports saying Apple’s rival is threatening to bury artists in its search results. Meanwhile, Spotify has denied the accusations, which come from anonymous sources cited by Bloomberg and The New York Times.
As Apple secures exclusive after exclusive with the hottest names in music, Spotify is beginning to feel the heat. According to Troy Carter, global head of creator services at Spotify, these deals are “bad for artists, bad for consumers, and bad for the whole industry.”
Frank Ocean’s new album, Blonde, debuted as one of the biggest Apple Music exclusives of the year, but if his record label has its way, it will be the last exclusive anyone ever gets from one of its artists.
Negotiations between music streaming service Spotify and all three major record labels have hit a snag lately and Apple Music is a big reason why.
Spotify’s licensing agreements with Sony, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group have reportedly been on a rolling month-by-month basis for much of 2016, yet the companies haven’t been able to hammer out long-term deals yet because Spotify isn’t willing to share as much revenue as Apple Music.
Amazon is looking to launch its own Amazon Echo-exclusive streaming music service, and according to a new report the company might beat Apple to the much-sought-after $5 per month subscription price point.
For those who don’t remember, one of the big rumors about Apple Music was that the company wanted to charge users five bucks a month, based on the idea that the average iTunes user spends $60 per year on downloaded music, which translates to $5 per month.
The Apple Music Festival will return to the U.K. this September for “10 exhilarating nights of live music,” according to Apple.
No musical acts have been revealed yet for the festival, which will run from September 18 to September 30. But if previous years are anything to go by, 2016 promises to deliver a star-studded lineup — and Apple Music subscribers get to watch the whole thing for free online.
Apple has released a trailer for its upcoming documentary The Cash Money Story about popular hip hop record label Cash Money Records, which will be available exclusively on Apple Music.
The story of the label which introduced hip hop fans to Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Young Money and Birdman, the documentary was teased earlier this week by Cash Money co-founder Birdman, who said he had struck a “power move” deal with Apple.
Apple Music added to its impressive string of exclusives by releasing Endless, a 45-minute “visual album” by Frank Ocean.
The film, which is available now to subscribers of Apple’s streaming music service, is thought to be a tease for an upcoming album by the Grammy-winning singer that could be released this weekend.
In its quest for more exclusive music content, Apple Music has signed an agreement with Cash Money Records: the record label which brought fan Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Young Money and Birdman.
According to the deal, which was described as a “power move” by co-founder Birdman on his Instagram, Apple will produce a documentary about the label — set to air exclusively on Apple Music.
The new lyrics feature in Apple Music might not be powered by a third-party company, according to a new job posting found on Apple’s website.
It appears that Apple instead plans to do most of the work compiling lyrics all on its own by hiring “a team of lyrics curators with excellent writing skills, music knowledge, and attention to detail.”
Developers received a brand-new batch of betas from Apple this morning after the company released the fifth builds of iOS 10, watchOS 3 and tvOS 10, which bring a number of changes and performance improvements to Apple’s platforms.
The updates come just over a week after Apple dropped the fourth beta of iOS 10, which included more than 100 new emoji, new sounds for keyboard clicks, quicker animations and tons of other improvements. We can’t wait to see what improvements Apple has made this go-round.
Apple Music has had a nice clean refresh in macOS Sierra — making it far easier to search for and discover the best Apple’s streaming music service has to offer.
Here’s what tune-lovers need to know when running the new operating system, which is currently in public beta and will be released this fall.
Apple has signed Hollywood superstar Gwyneth Paltrow to join its unscripted series ‘Planet of the Apps’.
Paltrow will be joined by will.i.am and serial entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk on the show where all three will serve as mentors and advisors to app developers in the series that will reportedly act as a launch pad to exceptional developers.
Glory, a.k.a. Britney Spears’ first new album since 2013 will be released on August 26, according to the singer’s official Twitter page.
The first major Android app made by Apple engineers is finally ready for primetime.
Coming over a year after the launch of Apple Music on iOS, Apple released the first non-beta version of Apple Music on the Google Play Store today and it comes with a couple new features.
Apple shocked investors with better than expected earnings for Q3 2016 today, despite some ominous signs that some analysts claimed signaled we’ve reached peak Tim Cook.
Thanks to the booming App Store business and other Services, Apple raked in an impressive $42.2 billion in revenue, which Tim Cook says, “was way better than we expected from so many different points of view.”
Here are the most important takeaways from today’s earnings call:
James Corden’s popular “Carpool Karaoke” segment from The Late Late Show on CBS is set to become its own show later this year — and you’ll only be able to watch it on Apple Music.
The viral segment has been a breakout hit of 2016, thanks to appearances by Adele, Justin Bieber, Michelle Obama, Elton John and dozens of other stars who drive around Los Angeles singing popular songs. Now fans will be able to get their karaoke by streaming full episodes every week.
T-Mobile’s Binge On service has been expanded to cover a whole bunch of new content, including Apple Music videos. That means you can watch as many as you like on your iPhone without eating into your monthly data allowance.
Apple’s jam-packed iOS 10 update has gotten even better in its third beta, which brings a bunch of tiny new features that start to make iOS 10 feel like a polished product.
The list of changes in iOS 10 beta 3, which was seeded to developers this week, isn’t as long as the last update. But Apple has added some really nice tweaks to the lock screen, Apple Music, iCloud Drive and Messages, in addition to a ton of bug fixes and stability improvements.
Check out the most important new additions to Apple’s upcoming mobile OS, which is slated to launch on iPhones and iPads this fall: