Mikey Campbell
Commenting on a recent survey conducted by research firm MusicWatch, which claimed only 52 percent of Apple Music trial customers still use the service, Apple said the actual attrition rate is closer to 21 percent.
Apple provided the correct Apple Music numbers to The Verge shortly after the MusicWatch survey was released on Tuesday. Specifically, Apple said 79 percent of people who signed up for a three-month free trial are still active users.
The admonition brings into question other data from today's report. According to survey respondents, 64 percent said they were extremely or very likely to continue paying for Apple Music once the trial period ends, though 61 percent already turned off auto-renewal features in iTunes. Perhaps most damning was a statistic claiming 48 percent of users who tried Apple Music since its debut in June had stopped using the service.
Apple stopped short of offering in-depth statistics or analysis and it is unclear how the company defines active users. The 79 percent number also sheds no light on potential conversion rates, or those who intend to pay for Apple Music services after their trial period expires. At the same time, MusicWatch's survey results regarding the percentage of customers who turned off auto-renewal is slightly misleading. That a customer opts out of automated renewal service does not necessarily serve as an indication of that person's intent to subscribe, they might simply be averse to such billing systems.
What Apple's statement makes clear, however, is that research reports drawing from customer surveys can at times be completely off target. Or at least inconsistent in interpreting gathered data. Only Apple knows how well Apple Music is fairing in a field full of strong competitors, though even it can't predict what subscription numbers will be like in September with any certainty.
So far, Apple is playing its music streaming cards close to the vest, only revealing earlier this month that 11 million users had signed up for trial accounts five weeks in.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
65 Comments
I don't know what to think of apple music. I want to like it, since I love apple and I love how integrated it is in the system. I also believe it drains less battery as spotify, which also start up way much slower. But if they don't solve some things before the trial ends I might go back to spotify. It is way too hard to make playlists. It's too hard to tell apart from music you have got on your device and stream. And frankly they should add a option to import spotify playlists. I don't wanna remake them using my phone. When android started to catch up they build tools to migrate all your contacts from your iPhone. Apple should know they are not (yet) the king of streaming music and should help the switchers. Spotify is freakin' slow, they need competition!
[quote name="mangakatten" url="/t/187771/apple-refutes-apple-music-survey-says-79-of-trial-customers-still-using-service#post_2763100"]And frankly they should add a option to import spotify playlists. I don't wanna remake them using my phone. When android started to catch up they build tools to migrate all your contacts from your iPhone.[/quote] How would Apple do this? You input your Spotify username and password so that Apple can parse your account to recreate those playlists or does Spotify have an export option that Apple Music could then use to import your playlists? The latter seems unlikely, even though you compare it to an address book that has that option, and the former seems like it might be crossing some legal boundaries. If not, I implore you to you write to Apple requesting that feature.
Before taking any of this data seriously, I would ask who commissioned the survey, what were the parameters, the sample size, the standard deviation, the margin of error and numerous other questions that would validate or invalidate MusicWatch's assertions. Most surveys by tech or tech related research firms don't stand up to scrutiny and draw conclusions not supported by the facts. In this case, without the parameters and other related information about the study, I am going to say it's worthless. And since we know Apple has not shared any data relating to this, I'm going say it's a level beyond worthless and a bit past BS.
Glad Apple responded to this horse-shit with real data. Predictably, troll-loving sites like Macrumors and theVerge have yet to update with this new info.
EDIT: Oh, even worse they did "update it", by burying Apple's response at the end of the article in fineprint (which most won't get to anyway), and leaving the headline exactly as is.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/18/9172309/people-are-giving-up-on-apple-music-survey
http://www.macrumors.com/2015/08/18/apple-music-adoption-musicwatch-data/
Apple certainly called their bluff!