Apple Music Trial Period Ends

They're not gonna tell us how many subscribers they've got.

And they're not gonna extend the free period, the rightsholders won't let them.

So what have we learned here...

Apple launched a beta product.

How could they get it so wrong? They have public betas of iOS 9 and El Capitan and they throw this half-baked software at the public?

They were afraid of being late.

But the truth is it's still early.

And an opportunity was blown.

YouTube owns music streaming.

Spotify owns paid music streaming.

But most people are not paying.

Will they pay Google/YouTube, Spotify or Apple?

I DON'T KNOW!

But I do know that there is a first mover advantage, but if you're not first, you'd better get it right. That was the essence of the iPod.

But not Apple Music.

Tesla was not the first electric car, just the best. The only people you can get to say anything negative about Tesla are right wingers invested in fossil fuels and the "Wall Street Journal" editorial page which carps about federal subsidies. But the public LOVES Tesla. What broke Tesla through? The "Consumer Reports" ratings. Best ever. The "New York Times" tried to quibble with that, a snarky writer said the car did not have the range promised and...ELON MUSK WENT NUCLEAR ON HIM! Just like Steve Jobs used to. Needless to say, Tim Cook is not going nuclear on me, because I'm right and he's wrong. And that's a sorry state of affairs.

Tesla won because their cars just worked, and unlike their competitors' automobiles they had RANGE! Over 200 miles, and that made a difference. And Tesla went after the early adopters with money, who love to spread the word. Instead of launching a cutting edge music service, Apple was so busy trying to involve the rearguard that they ended up with a platform that pleased nobody. Apple Music ain't good for streaming and it ain't good for files. Pick a lane.

If Tesla ran its operation like Apple Music every car would come with a gasoline engine, kind of like a Volt. But the Volt failed because... People don't trust General Motors, I'd never buy one of their cars. AND the Volt had substandard electric range. So the Volt was adopted by wonks, it just wasn't cool enough, it failed in the marketplace, they had to give the initial iteration away at the end of its life cycle, whereas Tesla's Model S still has customers.

But forget Tesla, what about social networks?

Yes, you drive Teslas in the real world. Apple Music is an internet product.

Do you know ANYBODY who uses Connect?

Talk about a ghostland...

How could they get it so wrong?

It's so hard to start anything these days, there's so much noise that you've got to double-down, be innovative, entice people. That's Snapchat. Connect is an antiquated concept that is not only unnecessary, the acts didn't adopt it and neither did the listeners.

So now Apple puts out how-to videos.

Did you catch that story?

Probably not. Because, once again, there are too many stories out there, and Apple Music's window in our frontal lobes has passed. Would it have been that hard to have how-to clips upon launch? It'd be like launching the Mac without a manual, no one knew how to use it! And no one knows how to use Apple Music, which is even less intuitive than the 128k Mac. Who blew it here? Who didn't realize the product was hard to use? Who skated on developing help videos?

I'm not sure, but I do know it's too late.

The ninety days are up.

I'm not paying.

Apple could reach out and give me a free account, but that's not their style. But that's what you do when you've got a developing enterprise. And you endure the hate as well as hope for the love. Spotify works better for me. If Apple Music improves...how am I gonna know?

First impressions count. How are you gonna get all those people back to Apple Music? The ones who signed off today, and the ones who'll sign off in a month when they're surprised by the bill?

Only through free, my friend.

That's what's funny... Apple didn't want to pay the acts for the trial period and now, if they're smart, they'll pay them for a freemium tier.

But, as stated above, the rightsholders don't want this.

Because the rightsholders are greedy, unlike tech companies they can't wait for riches.

Even the vaunted Google had no monetization plan upon launch.

But it's even worse... Because music blew it. Still selling CDs and then files it didn't see streaming coming. It blew a hole in its revenue plan and now it wants the public to just jump up and pay?

FAHGETTABOUDIT!

Even worse is the book publishers. Kindle copies now cost more than paperbacks in some cases. Everybody knows that a file is cheaper for the publisher, there's no printing, no shipping, no returns. But the publishers and writers want to preserve their old model, not realizing that it's dying and there's more money in getting everybody to play at a reduced rate. The cell phone companies realized this, it's not a mystery.

But not as many people read books as listen to music.

But the music customer is pissed too. He has to hear again and again the bitching of acts when the truth is fans give their favorites so much money, overpaying for concert tickets and merch... A successful act is making more money than any other time in the history of the music business, albeit less from recordings, and the customer is struggling to make rent. Telling people to pay for a second-rate service or be bounced back to YouTube... Let my Apple Music subscription lapse.

But the last chapter has not been written on streaming music. If for no other reason than most people are not subscribing. There's a lot of runway. Which means...

Apple's still got a chance. Hell, there are tons of people who never signed up for the ninety day trial!

But Spotify is friendlier, both in terms of usability and payment. There are more options.

So, the advantage goes to Spotify...

Apple used to act like a startup.

Now it's an ocean liner with too many hands and they can't seem to turn it around.

Tell me two music business people winning in music tech.

I CAN'T EVEN NAME ONE!

In other words, it was a huge mistake to hand the reins of Apple Music to Jimmy Iovine and Trent Reznor...they just don't get it. Their mind-set is inured to the past.

Or, to quote the Firesign Theatre, HOW CAN YOU BE IN TWO PLACES AT ONCE WHEN YOU'RE NOT ANYWHERE AT ALL?

That's Apple Music. A lot of press, but very little action. Another Cupertino failure.

Not hard to believe when you lose your visionary, someone unafraid to make the hard calls.

John Lennon was an asshole. He wasn't about getting along, but getting it right.

They need more of that spirit at Apple.

Until that time...

I'm gonna use my Mac and my iPhone but I see no reason to own a Watch, I returned mine because it did the one key thing lousily, and that's tell time.

And Apple Music does the one key thing lousily too...

And that's play music.

All the curation, all the b.s...

Just let me play my tunes.

And give me comprehensible playlists.

Even better, give me a comprehensible interface.

One free month as a Christmas gift... Apple's loaded, they've got to find a way to get trial subscribers to come back, it's their only hope.

But they've got to fix the product first.

Fisker failed. Looked just as cool as a Tesla, but it broke down.

Let that be a lesson to you.

Looks are for Kardashians.

But we want soul.

Failed technology went out with the twenty first century. We expect everything to work right out of the box, and if it doesn't we abandon it.

I've abandoned Apple Music.

And I'm not the only one.

People with the Watch can't stop raving about it!

But there aren't that many of them.

And there won't be many Apple Music subscribers either.

And I wonder if anybody's smart enough in Cupertino to make it right.

I'd start by firing Jimmy Iovine...


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