It seems like Apple has figured out the secret ingredient to beat Spotify at its own game, possibly sometime in the near future. By signing deals with artists and their music labels, the tech giant’s music streaming service, Apple Music, has been securing musicians and content for exclusive rights over the months. Given the company’s expertise in marketing, it knows exactly how to create the hype for every artist and album it lands and the latest maneuver was made through one of the hottest R&B and Hip hop artists in the industry; Frank Ocean.
As fans patiently wait for Ocean to drop his upcoming album – “Boys Don’t Cry” – any time now, he today released a new visual album as what appears to be a supplementary effort for his actual audio album. “Endless”, the visual album, was released on Apple Music exclusively and it is available for streaming on the app right away.
Originally, the “Boys Don’t Cry” album was supposed to be released two weeks ago on the Apple app but it didn’t and this has happened multiple times throughout the wait for it. At least, Frank Ocean fans have a visual album to check it, which would keep the hype alive and may even slightly add to it. As the artist drops the 45-minute long video, an Apple Music representative told Pitchfork to expect something more from Ocean over this weekend.
“Endless” features new songs by Frank Ocean and appears to have taken place in the same warehouse where he has been hosting his web stream previously. Two weeks ago, he began posting odd web streams on his album’s website, boysdontcry.co, and returned last night with a live video stream to tease the album. There was an Apple Music logo in the video’s top right corner, which is similar to what has been seen previously from artists that the iPhone-maker has partnered with.
“Boys Don’t Cry” will be a follow-up to the four year old album – “Channel Orange” released 2012 – was a huge hit in the music industry; it earned six Grammy Awards nominations and was acclaimed by fans and critics alike. The follow-up album is said to be one of the most highly anticipated one over that past four years.
Apple has an eye for the artists that the masses enjoy – particularly its userbase – as well as the money to sign them in order to keep them and their highly anticipated albums exclusive to its music services. Previously, it has streamed exclusive offerings from major artists including Drake, Taylor Swift, and Katy Perry. Apple Music will apparently also have exclusive rights to Britney Spear’s upcoming album, “Glory.”
Earlier this week, Apple unveiled a deal with Cash Money Records; the music label that houses Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Lil Wayne. The two entities are collaborating to make a documentary series that will also be an Apple Music exclusive. It is a huge win for Apple to secure an exclusivity deal for Ocean’s content as it continues to oust competing music streaming platforms such as Tidal and the bigger rival and industry leader, Spotify.
Given Apple Music’s rapid progress and one after another exclusive content deals with some of the most popular artists in the world, it can very well overtake Spotify in the next two years. Currently, Spotify has 100 million total users, 30 million out of which are paid subscriptions. Apple Music on the other hand has reached 15 million paid subscriptions over its year-old young timeline as Eddy Cue announced at the WWDC in June. While the total userbases of the two rival services have a substantial difference, the difference between paying customers is rather narrow.
Apple Music reportedly had 11 million subscriptions in February, 13 million subscriptions in April, and 15 million two months later. By the end of this year, we expect to hear a number around 20 million. Furthermore, the app’s experience is being enhanced with a clearer and cleaner design in macOS Sierra’s iTunes 12.5 and of course, the iOS 10. At this rate, the tech giant will surely make massive dents in the Spotify’s business without even needing an ad-supported free tier.
