While we can"t say that Apple music has been receiving the best reception possible, a recent executive departure is adding fuel to the debate of how well the service is doing. Ian Rogers, until his unexpected departure, was in charge of all of Apple"s radio services including the 24/7 streaming Beats1 station.
Originally reported by the Financial Times, Rogers is departing only two months after the launch of the service in June. He is said to be moving to a new luxury brand company based in the UK. Before joining Beats in 2013, Rogers previously worked several music industry focused jobs, running the Beastie Boys" website and later for Yahoo under their Music division. After the purchase of Beats by Apple last year for $3.2 billion, he continued his internet music work as an executive for nearly a year.
At this point, over 11 million people have registered for the trial of its new music service. However, it will be interesting to see just how many users continue with a paid subscription to the service after the 3 month trial Apple is offering expires. Apple"s main competitor in the streaming space is Spotify, who has over 55 million free and 20 million paid users.
We recently reported on some interesting (if not disappointing) study figures suggesting that more than half of the 11 million planned on not renewing their subscriptions, however Apple has come out saying these figures are inaccurate. Of course, only time will tell how successful Apple Music and its Beats1 station will be, but it"s arguably turning out to be more of an uphill battle than they may have anticipated.
Apple has confirmed that Rogers is leaving the company but declined to provide any further details.
Source: Financial Times| Via: New York Times