Apple Music launching into volatile market Apple’s entry into the music streaming business is set to create a fierce battle for dominance and survival in an already crowded market place ---------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT IS MUSIC STREAMING? User listens to music in real-time over internet rather than buying downloads or compact discs Apple has cash and clout to entice musicians like Pharrell Williams to release tracks exclusively on Apple Music Music labels earn around 0.2¢ per audio stream Jun 30: Williams’ “Freedom” will stream exclusively on Apple Music from launch day ---------------------------------------------------------------- WHY APPLE NEEDS MUSIC STREAMING (% of iTunes revenue from music sales) 2012 81 2013 71 2014 59 Decline in part due to growing popularity of streaming audio ----------------------------------------------------------------- MUSIC STREAMING TYPES Non-Interactive: Listeners play music, without ability to choose songs. Also known as Internet Radio Examples: Pandora, iTunes Radio Interactive: Listeners choose songs that are played. Also known as On-Demand Streaming Examples: Spotify, Rhapsody, Google Play Music, Apple Music Both types can be free (with advertisements) or stream for fee of around $10/month (no ads) ------------------------------------------------------------------ U.S. MUSIC STREAMING BY BRAND* (% of respondents using these services) Pandora 45 Under pressure: Pandora has lost 2m of its 81.5m listeners and lost $48m in 2015† iHeartRadio 17 iTunes Radio 16 Spotify 13 Amazon Music 7 Rhapsody 5 Google Play Music 5 TuneIn Radio 4 Radio.com 3 Slacker 3 Beats Music 3 Aug 1, 2014: Acquired by Apple for $500m ($3bn deal for Beats Electronics) Jun 30, 2015: Transforms into Apple Music, launching as built-in app in iOS 8.4 update for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, and iTunes update for Mac/PC‡ More than 1 billion iOS devices sold§ -------------------------------------------------------------------- *Jan-Feb 2015, U.S. telephone survey of 2,002 randomly selected people aged 12 years and over †Jan 1-Apr 27, 2015 ‡arrives on Android in Autumn 2015 §as of Jan 27, 2015 Picture: AP Sources: Edison Research, BI Intelligence, Statista, Songtrust, wire agencies words 313