Yeah, I enjoy it too.
But it seems like when they wanted to create the future of radio... they made radio.
This is such a big part of it. Nothing wrong with the radio they've created, it follows in the vein of Radio 1's specialist output, some of the great stuff in Australia, with some brilliant minds... but it's just traditional radio. An industry I'd argue is currently coming up with more interesting reinventions of itself than Apple has so far. I've probably repeated myself in this thread about it, so, sorry if so.
It being traditional isn't necessarily a bad thing - radio as a medium is still fucking huge. But it's just so normal people forget. Like, 90% of the population of the UK tune in every week. Though much of it isn't stuff like Beats1. For however much mainstream stuff is repetitive, the bulk of people listen to Radio 2. They listen to local radio. That's where the mass audience is. Beats1 is supposed to be cool, it's always going to be niche.
So it was never going to be multi-million mass - but I don't think Apple's approach is helping. In the UK, online listening is around 7% of all listening hours the last time I checked. So again, you're going for a niche section of a niche market.
Radio is basically the easiest user interface there is. You turn it on and it entertains you. And you can press a button to change to something else if you're not liking it, but normally you'll settle on a regular station. Even going in to an app is more dedicated behaviour - finding it within that. And then listening on a computer, you have to listen through iTunes. Understandably from a strategy POV, they want you in Apple Music, but my job is doing web stuff for radio stations. Live players are usually the number 1 page of a site by considerable margins. Apps for traditional stations are mainly downloaded by the most dedicated listeners to a station - they're not really building a new audience, and I wonder if there's a similar issue there for Apple, it's not easy to sample and get in to. You have to make an effort.
In short, it's not innovative, it's not that easy to use (not even discussed listen again) and it's aimed at a niche, not mass audience.
They might create incredible radio - and god knows they've got the talent to do it - but it's not going to be a mass market station without a change of strategy.
