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110 Features Apple Music Needs to Catch Up to Its Streaming Rivals
2Offer More Radio Stations, Please
While it’s nice to have a couple of Beats radio stations in Apple Music, it needs to be expanded to include other tastes and content. Apple has done a fine job of delivering 24-hour radio, but if it adds more stations and becomes more of a competitor to services like SiriusXM or even traditional radio, people would be more likely to use the service.
3Do a Better Job of Tracking Listener Preferences
Apple simply needs to do better job of understanding what people want to hear. Pandora has done that exceedingly well by tracking what customers are listening to. Apple must enhance its analysis of individual listening behaviors and deliver content people actually want to listen to. If it can’t do that as well as competitors, Apple Music won’t grow at the rate Apple hopes.
4Make ‘My Music’ More Refined
My Music, the repository for people to access the content they have in their library, is cumbersome and difficult to use. The feature doesn’t make it easy to quickly find artists or songs, and even searching for content can be difficult. Apple’s My Music, which includes self-made playlists, is arguably one of the biggest issues with Apple Music—and it needs to be fixed.
5The Connect Feature Isn’t Working
6An Improved Interface Is Critical
7The ‘For You’ Needs to Make Sense
Apple’s For You section is supposed to be the place where Apple delivers content users might want to hear. But it doesn’t always do a good job. The selection of playlists is small, and worse, it sometimes doesn’t make sense. Apple’s For You needs to be smarter and deliver broader content and playlists.
8Bring On Big Talents
Apple has done a fine job of bringing on major artists, like Taylor Swift, to promote its streaming service, but it needs to get them invested in Apple Music itself. Apple has gotten some exclusives from artists like Drake, but it must go further. If Apple can get exclusive content from the likes of Swift and Adele, as well as make it more financially attractive to get early access to content (similar to the way Kanye West brought his album to Tidal), it’d go a long way in making the service more appealing.
9Make It Easier for Users to Say What They Don’t Like
Apple is enabling users to tell the service what they like thanks to an included “heart” button. However, the company doesn’t make it easy for users to say what they don’t like. Similar to Pandora, Apple should have a thumbs-up-thumbs-down system that would allow users to tell Apple’s editors their tastes.
10Bring It Online
Apple Music lives on iOS devices and computers, but wouldn’t it be nice if it were also available online? Some people like the idea of streaming content in the browser at work or other places, and at least so far, Apple hasn’t offered that. Perhaps the time has come to deliver an online portal where users can easily stream their favorite tracks from the Web.
11Don’t Fall Into the Free Spotify Trap
One of Spotify’s biggest issues with artists right now is that it offers a free, ad-supported version. Apple cannot fall into that trap and try to appease its users with such a move. Artists and record labels don’t like the idea of free access to their tracks, which could hurt Apple’s chances of expanding its music offerings. Apple Music must remain a paid service.