A top Apple Music executive has stated in a new interview that the company is not concerned with the number of users of its Apple Music streaming service. Instead, he says Apple is focused on the quality of the product, which he admitted needs some work.
Apple introduced its new Apple Music streaming service a few months ago, and the verdict is mixed. Although the Beats 1 radio station has been applauded for the quality of its contributors as well as the diversity of its playlist, the actual streaming interface of Apple Music has been criticized for its confusing and non-intuitive interface, while some customers have had their iTunes library corrupted or lost in the process of integrating it with the new service. Apple Music issues have also plagued users of iOS 8.4.1, the latest operating system update pushed to Apple users prior to the upcoming major update, iOS 9, due sometime this month.
Oliver Schusser, vice president of iTunes International has stated in a series of new interviews that he agrees the company still has some work to do in perfecting Apple Music "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," said Schusser. "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."
Although Apple Music reportedly has gained over 11 million subscribers since its introduction, the big question is whether those subscribers, who are all receiving a free three-month trial, will convert to paying customers when the trial ends. Reports, disputed by Apple,claimed that almost half of users who initially signed up have already stopped listening.
Schusser says he is not concerned with the number of listeners subscribing to the service: "We don't wake up in the morning and look at the numbers and get stressed about it. We think that, over time, if the product is great, then people will choose our product over other people's."
