 Vice president of iTunes International says company is getting ‘a lot of feedback’ about streaming service and ‘trying to make it better every day’ Apple has “a bit of homework to be done” to improve its Apple Music streaming service, the company’s international iTunes boss has said. Apple Music launched in June as a rival to Spotify and while it has been praised for its curated playlists it has been criticised over its user interface and bugs affecting people’s existing iTunes libraries. “There’s a lot of work going into making the product better. Our focus is on editorial and playlists, and obviously we have teams all around the world working on that, but we’re also adding features and cleaning up certain things,” Oliver Schusser, vice president, iTunes International, told the Guardian. Apple Music interview: 'Algorithms can't do it alone – you need a human touch'“Apple Music Connect is growing big-time with more and more artists connecting to their fans, but we still have a bit of homework to be done for the rest of the year.” Asked about criticisms of Apple Music’s usability – which has seen users complaining of corrupted libraries and unintuitive interfaces – Schusser said: “The product is always our priority, and we are getting a lot of feedback. Remember, this was a very big launch in 110 markets instantly, so we get a ton of feedback. We’re obviously trying to make it better every day.” he said. Schusser confirmed that Apple Music will launch for Android devices and Sonos-connected hi-fis “in the fall”, adding that “we still have some work to do there, but that’s coming”. Apple is launching a new advertising campaign to promote Apple Music and attract more trial members, with the company’s annual September music festival in London – renamed the Apple Music Festival – also playing a key role. Ten gigs with headliners including One Direction, Pharrell Williams and the Chemical Brothers will be broadcast live on Beats 1, Apple Music’s radio station, as well as having video streamed to iOS devices, iTunes and Apple TV. Schusser hopes the festival and ads will attract people who are new to streaming music. “Streaming still needs a lot of education in the market,” he said. “We have more of a worldwide view: the UK is a little more educated than other markets, but nothing like the places where streaming is already the number one way to consume music.” “Our focus is more on the product than anything else: we spend most of our energy on that,” he said. “That’s more our priority than checking every hour the amount of people who have signed up. We have more of a long-term perspective on this.” Music labels and artists, too, are trying to gauge what Apple Music and streaming more generally means for their income. “If you follow the industry and look at the numbers, the download business has been really, really healthy. iTunes is a big part of our business, still, and will continue to be, so we focus just as much time and energy on maintaining that, editorially and working on features,” said Schusser. “That [Compton] is a really good example of how streaming and downloads can be successful side-by-side. What we’ve proven is that when there’s great content, customers will buy as well as listen.” Spotify has six years of my music data, but does it understand my tastes?A a growing battleground between Apple, Spotify, Google Play and other streaming services – and one Apple Music has won plaudits for – is playlists compiled to help listeners discover new music. However, indie labels fear that as playlists grow in prominence, their major rivals will put pressure on the streaming services to tilt the balance back towards their artists. Schusser said Apple is determined to ensure indies get a fair crack of the whip on Apple Music, however. “We like independent artists as well as major-label artists. Small as well as big artists,” he said. “If you listen to Beats 1 and do the maths in terms of major-label artists versus independent artists, it’s the place you discover new music from any label.” {{#ticker}} {{topLeft}} {{bottomLeft}} {{topRight}} {{bottomRight}} {{#goalExceededMarkerPercentage}}{{/goalExceededMarkerPercentage}} {{/ticker}}{{#paragraphs}}{{.}} {{/paragraphs}}{{highlightedText}}{{#choiceCards}}{{/choiceCards}} We will be in touch to remind you to contribute. Look out for a message in your inbox in . If you have any questions about contributing, please contact us. Topics
View commentsView on theguardian.com {{#showContent}} {{#description}}{{/description}}{{#content}}{{#headline}} {{#isComment}}{{/isComment}} {{#showWebPublicationDate}} {{webPublicationDate}}{{/showWebPublicationDate}}{{headline}}{{/headline}}{{/content}}{{/showContent}}{{#showContent}}{{#description}}{{/description}}{{#content}}{{#headline}} {{#isComment}}{{/isComment}} {{#showWebPublicationDate}} {{webPublicationDate}}{{/showWebPublicationDate}}{{headline}}{{/headline}}{{/content}}{{/showContent}}{{#showContent}}{{#description}}{{/description}}{{#content}}{{#headline}} {{#isComment}}{{/isComment}} {{#showWebPublicationDate}} {{webPublicationDate}}{{/showWebPublicationDate}}{{headline}}{{/headline}}{{/content}}{{/showContent}}{{#showContent}}{{#description}}{{/description}}{{#content}}{{#headline}} {{#isComment}}{{/isComment}} {{#showWebPublicationDate}} {{webPublicationDate}}{{/showWebPublicationDate}}{{headline}}{{/headline}}{{/content}}{{/showContent}}I've been looking through apple music's curated playlists for study music, but almost all of them contain many songs with lyrics in them. The only ones that are consistently only instrumental are classical, but I'm a little classical-ed out at the moment. Are there any playlists that people have found that have some good instrumental music you can study to? Any genre is fine, as long as there's no words. |
