Most consumers still using the three-month free trial of Apple Music say they are likely to continue paying for a subscription after the period ends, new survey data shows, though a significant portion may have dropped off soon after trying the service.
Of the iOS users who told market research firm MusicWatch that they were listening to Apple Music, 64 percent classed themselves as extremely or very likely to continue with a paid subscription. Many have already turned off automatic renewal in iTunes, however, suggesting that there is still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the nascent service.
MusicWatch says that they came by the data by interviewing 5,000 U.S. consumers, though it's not clear how many of those were iOS users.
Additionally, the firm found that 48 percent of those who tried Apple Music at one point had stopped using it. MusicWatch didn't say how those figures cross with the number of consumers that also use Spotify or Pandora — Â 39 percent of surveyed Spotify users and 6 percent of Pandora users had tried Apple Music — Â though they did note that Apple Music had won "very few" users of other services over permanently.
There is room to grow for Apple, as just 77 percent of the iOS users surveyed said they were aware of Apple Music's existence. Of those that did know, 11 percent had tried Apple Music — Â compared to 40 percent who download tracks from iTunes.
"In terms of benchmarking Apple Music, 40 percent of iOS users are buying digital downloads from iTunes, suggesting trial of Apple Music could be higher," MusicWatch managing partner Russ Crupnick said in a release. "That's the disadvantage of not being the first mover in a market where very good services currently exist."
Update: Apple refuted the numbers in a statement to The Verge, saying 79 percent of those signed up for Apple Music are still using it.
53 Comments
Well, I guess that headline *is* technically accurate...
I'm in. It's great!
I love the "discovery" facility of it. I have yet to fine anything I've searched for NOT available on Apple Music, which means that I don't necessarily have to buy everything I want to check out.
Wasn't the narrative that Apple was supposedly abusing its massive stash of credit cards tied to iOS accounts to give Apple an "unfair advantage" because billions of people will unknowingly pay for Apple Music when the 3 month free trial expires? Wasn't it one of the other streaming music services that wanted Apple harassed by the government for that?
I'm in. It's great!
I love the "discovery" facility of it. I have yet to fine anything I've searched for NOT available on Apple Music, which means that I don't necessarily have to buy everything I want to check out.
The Beatles is the only thing I've wanted to listen to and not found.
I've also been pleasantly surprised by finding stuff in the "for you" section that I loved. I'll also keep it on. Of course, I'm not a switcher from Spotify or anything else.
I've stopped using for the most part and will not be subscribing to Apple Music. I'm staying within what I've been using previously.