Apple Music, Another Tidal?

“It will change the way you experience music forever,” Tim Cook announced just a couple of hours ago. And after several hopeful rants on our music podcast, I was excited for something new. So how did Apple try to beat (no pun intended) Spotify’s streaming service? You can tell Siri what tracks to play. Apple Music will feature Beats 1, Apple’s first 24/7, worldwide radio station with a range of celebrity and well-known DJs. Drake will release his next album, exclusively through the service. They have a blog, and a sharing platform called Connect, where celebrities and unsigned artist can share new tracks and images. And a nice user interface.

Sadly, no innovative or creative features were introduced, and personally I was hoping for a bolder and more unique launch of Apple Music.

But the one thing they have, which Spotify definitely doesn’t is – 800 million credit cards on file compared to Spotify’s 15 million paid subscribers. So unlike Tidal, switching from Spotify to the pre-installed app on your next iPhone isn’t going to take more than a second. And guess what, you’re one of the 800 million who already have an account.

Sadly, no innovative or creative features were introduced, and personally I was hoping for a bolder and unique launch of Apple Music. Especially after the lackluster and heavily criticized Tidal launch. If Tidal felt like a few select artists wanting to have control over the situation, Apple Music is a lite version of Apple installing U2’s album on your phone. More money and power, than different.

Apple Music is set to launch June 30th, worldwide.

Meanwhile, while we wait for Google to announce what they are planning to do with their Youtube streaming service – Which I find interesting because Youtube is home to one of the most unique and vast music collections ever, I want to recommend Google Music. I tried it today, and without paying anything, I got 50 000 of my MP3s, in the cloud – To stream wherever I want, for free (just sign up for their “standard” version). Works great for those hidden gems Spotify doesn’t cover.

And for what it’s worth, as long as I’ve got Has it Leaked and vinyl, I’m good.

Update: It should be noted that Apple Music will not share all of the music in the iTunes Music Store. Like The Beatles. There’s a also a great preview of their streaming service up on The Verge right now.