Survey says Apple Music is struggling to keep users, but Apple doesn’t agree
Apple claims its nascent streaming service is doing just fine, thank you very much
Well, it’s all kicking off in the ever-changing world of music streaming. Apple Music has barely got out of the gates, but already people are lining up to call it a disappointment.
A company called MusicWatch conducted a survey of 5,000 US consumers concerning Apple Music, and its results suggest a few interesting things. The worst-sounding for Apple being that only 11 percent of iOS users surveyed had tried the service, and of that 11 percent, 48 percent have stopped using it already. It also said that 61 percent of trial users had turned off the auto-renewal option, meaning they’ll have to manually pay for their subscription (or not) once the free trial is over.
On paper, that might look pretty dismal, but as soon as the survey’s results were reported Apple smashed through the wall like the Kool-Aid man, telling The Verge that its own data shows that 79 percent of people who signed up for Apple Music are still using it. It’s quite unusual for Apple to react like this – the company tends to retain a mercurial silence in the face of mere statistics – so perhaps the survey had Cupertino a little rattled.
Anyway, the survey wasn’t full of bad news. It also found that 28 percent of Spotify Premium users are also using Apple Music, only 77 of iOS users are even aware of Apple Music (suggesting advertising and marketing, something Apple hasn’t really kicked off in earnest just yet, could do a lot to boost subscriptions), and that 64 percent of those using the free trial were “very likely” to subscribe once the free three months is over.
So, what are the take aways from this story? That Apple Music is performing a little bit disappointingly, according to a survey, and that it’s doing just fine, according to Apple. Undoubtedly, the service has some way to go before it’s as popular as Spotify – but there’s nothing to suggest that it can’t grow. In fact, as MusicAlly reports, the survey data suggests that Apple Music will have 3.4 million paying subscribers come the end of the trial, which would make it the third most popular paid streaming service, sitting just below Spotify and Deezer. That’s not too shabby after just three months of existence.
You can read our thoughts on Apple Music in our full review, and see how it compares to rivals Tidal and Spotify in this comparison piece.
Sam Kieldsen
Contributor 
