Apple Music Connect Makes Einstein (and everyone else) Very Unhappy
By Michael Sitver (Founder, Geeky.io)
Among the more famous of Apple’s figureheads representing how they “think different” is Albert Einstein. Well, today he’s rolling over in his grave after hearing about Apple Music.
After all, it was ol’ Al who said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.
Apple Music carries with it some important updates, from expertly-curated playlists, to support for Android, to smart search (You can ask “What was that song from “Titanic”, or “Play the #1 Hip hop song in May of 1990” and get an answer), but it also carries with it a disaster of a service called “Connect”.
To people who watch Apple closely, “Connect” is all too familiar. Connect allows artists to connect with fans, share videos, statuses, and photos, and just generally interact. With the support of Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, the service already has a number of notable launch artists… but it’s a flawed concept, and one that has already failed.
Introduced in 2010 by Steve Jobs, Apple’s iTunes Ping aspired to similar things. Launching with partners like Coldplay, Ping aspired to be the Facebook or Twitter of Music, allowing fans to connect with artists in new ways, and discover new music from fans. Ping failed miserably, because people already connected with their favorite artists via Facebook, Twitter, and other services. They didn’t need another way to connect with artists, and without momentum, Ping was unceremoniously killed off shortly after its launch.
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And Ping wasn’t even that bad. It was well-designed. It worked. There just wasn’t any interest, from fans or artists. And with the advent of new services like Soundcloud and Instagram, as well as the growing popularity of Youtube for Music, artists need a service like Ping or “Itunes Music Connect” even less today. Nobody needs another Ping 2.0.
In a stunning display, when Jimmy Iovine and artist Drake tried to describe Connect on stage today, they struggled to find the words to even describe the service, because they had no way to describe it in which it sounded appealing. They were tongue-tied, like no one before at an Apple event.
I like Apple Music. I’m pretty confident it will succeed, or at least survive. Apple Music Connect is doomed though, and I don’t say things like that lightly. It’s a waste of time and resources.
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