Apple purchasing Beats for $3 Billion

So there's talk over on the ILE Apple Lust Objects thread but for here:

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2014/05/28Apple-to-Acquire-Beats-Music-Beats-Electronics.html

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/05/28/apple-beats-3-billion-deal/9673679/

(And obviously hardly a secret but finally confirmed.)

critically acclaimed subscription streaming music service

I literally had never heard of Beats prior to this purchase

I guess Apple is done "innovating"

you never heard of beats headphones....seriously?

c'mon you must've seen their shitty cans on people's ears?

not the headphones, the streaming service

was what I was referring to

the thing about beats music is that it was a cool and necessary idea, but the execution is underwhelming. its music discovery tools are slick but not very useful. i've been a subscriber since day one and i'm not sure it's led me to a single piece of music i didn't already know. it is, however, great at surfacing music that you already knew you liked. if all you want is a continued barrage of the music you already know and love, it does a fantastic job at that, like a classic-rock radio station that you can tweak to be classic-whatever-you-want.

spotify, meanwhile, has upped its discovery game substantially since the beats launch, and blows beats away at music discovery these days. the "browse" function on the desktop app is 100 percent better than it was half a year ago. for whatever beats did to contribute to that change at spotify, i salute them. but if you ask me, spotify has won the music subscription space.

to be a fly on the wall when they were impressed by the streaming service, and to have a fly barf bag

Beats music was launched with ringle-levels of acclaim last autumn, I believe.

"music discovery" *kills self*

I think what they were impressed by was the streaming agreements that were brokered, rather than the app itself.

it was launched in january, actually. with no free option, shitty social tools and very expensive hands-on programming that added surprisingly little.

it does, however, use twitter well. i'll give them that.

"music discovery" *kills self*

what i mean by "music discovery" is, when i open up the app and when i use the app, i want my service to show me some music i might want to play. kind of like how when i go to the front page of pitchfork it shows me some stories i might want to read and videos i might want to watch and listen to. is that asking too much of a music app?

how about a music app that pays musicians

that would be sorta cool

otoh I know Apple really needs the money, those poor nerds, when will they catch a break

(xp) how about a music industry that pays musicians?

until recently, they apparently lost money on itunes.

where's my fly barf bag

(xp) when itunes launched, it didn't have to make money. it helped apple sell ipods, which made them oodles of money. i assume that's still true, at least to some degree.

Posted this on the Taylor Swift 1989 thread, but maybe its better here:

http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/21/media/taylor-swift-1989-apple-music/

Taylor Swift appears to have prompted a policy change at Apple, after threatening to withhold her album "1989" from the company's streaming music service over royalty payments.

Swift's issue is the three-month free trial period Apple is promoting.

"Apple Music will not be paying writers, producers, or artists for those three months," she wrote. "I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company."

She added: "It's not too late to change this policy and change the minds of those in the music industry who will be deeply and gravely affected by this. We don't ask you for free iPhones. Please don't ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation."

Apple responded to Swift late Sunday night in a series of tweets from Eddy Cue, a key lieutenant of CEO Tim Cook.

"#AppleMusic will pay artist for streaming, even during customer's free trial period," Cue tweeted, adding that "We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple."

We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple
— Eddy Cue (@cue) June 22, 2015

I don't know how they thought they could get away with that.

Good message for indie artists about the future: simply be as rich as Taylor Swift and publicly shame companies into paying you.

^^^