Beats Surrender?
Radio’s confidence issues. Does Apple’s Beats 1 radio station mean the end of radio as we know it?
I was at home watching some sports when I got a message asking if I could write an article explaining Apple’s newly announced radio service for some media agencies.
After a quick bit of research I wrote my two hundred words and sent them in. The message came back “thanks for that, I can’t understand what all the fuss is about”.
It was only then that I “checked the social media reaction” as they say on the news when they’ve run out of actual news.
“This changes everything” said one radio friend on Twitter.
“Boring radio in the UK has got the kick up the ass it needs” said a radio programmer who actually should be in a position to administer that kick himself.
These comments and many similar ones said more to me about the state of radio than about Apple. The reaction suggested that radio in the UK is suffering from a crisis of confidence. Apple doesn’t even have broadcast radio in its sights and yet many seem convinced this is the beginning of the end.
Warning signs
Early last year a red light started flashing on a dashboard inside Apple. Sales of music downloads were slowing down, it looked like they’d fall for the first year ever. Meanwhile streaming was going full steam ahead. The reason this worried Apple was they were a dominant player in downloads through their iTunes system.
Streaming is dominated by YouTube, Spotify and Pandora and more. If the trends continued then Apple would no longer be such a big player in providing the world with music and music matters to Apple.
The money Apple makes from music is loose change compared to the large stacks of cash they get from selling hardware. However Apple is well aware that if your music collection is all tied up in your iTunes system then you are far more likely to stick with Apple when it’s time to upgrade your phone, tablet or laptop.
For that reason Apple couldn’t let YouTube, Spotify or anyone else get too much of a hold in their music market. They had to make a move.
In May last year Apple bought Beats Electronics for $3.2bn. Beats is best known for its range of headphones but it became obvious that Apple were more interested in Beats Music, a small but clever music streaming service.
For a while it was assumed that Apple would be using Beats Music technology to reinvigorate their iTunes Radio service. The announcement in February this year that they’d hired Zane Lowe suggested they were doing something a bit different.
Reputation
Zane Lowe was the current presenter of the new music slot on BBC Radio 1. The times and presenters of the slot have changed a bit over the years but Radio 1 has always had the mantra “ratings by day, reputation at night”. That meant during the daytime Radio 1 played mainstream pop music mixed in with broad based entertainment. When it got dark they’d play newer music by less well known acts. Apple had decided they wanted some of that reputation.
After signing Lowe they made moves for more Radio 1 staff. All those Apple hired were involved in the reputation rather than the ratings part of the station’s output.
So when Apple announced full details of their streaming music plan this week it all made sense. They will give us Apple Music, a streaming service. Connect is a social network that will bring acts and fans together and Beats 1, the Zane Lowe fronted “radio station”.
Zane will broadcast live from LA at 5pm UK time each day. Ebro Darden in New York City and Julie Adenuga in London will join Zane on Beats 1. Their publicity shots are black and white and moody. This isn’t screaming fun and entertaining.
The big idea is Zane Lowe (or Darden or Adenuga) plays a track by a new act on Beats 1. You follow the act on Connect and stream the track lots on Apple Music. Then back to Zane to get a new new song.
So Beats 1 is a very specialist propostion. There is no Ryan Seacrest or Chris Moyles providing entertianment and engagment. It’s all about keeping people plugged into Apple’s music eco-system.
Why the worry?
Given that Apple isn’t doing mainstream radio and has gone for reputation rather than ratings why is it worrying a lot of radio professionals?
Well it could be Apple’s hype. The Beats 1 page on the Apple website promises “Not just radio reimagined. Radio like you’ve never imagined”. Nice line but if you break it down there’s nothing game-changing to listen to.
Zane Lowe playing new music isn’t that innovative. Radio 1 has been doing that since the sixties but have always kept it out of the mainstream. Also Zane Lowe has been available to listen to around the world for years.
Is it the promise of 24/7 worldwide new music that is scaring people? The “new music” genre is quite niche. Yes people love to discover new songs on the radio but they much prefer those new tunes to be mixed in with the ones they already know and love.
The worldwide reach is interesting too. That might help Beats 1 get the exclusive on the new Beyonce song but music is a much more local experience than that. When Fleur East comes up with new music or Take That release a new album is that going to fall naturally to Beats 1? I doubt it. It’s going to be of interest to UK radio only.
Beats 1 doesn’t feel like the home for new music from Alejandro Sanz or Naucz Mnie either. It’s hard to see it make a serious dent in radio stations who serve up content tailored to their listeners.
Maybe it’s the fact the Beats 1 will be streaming online and available on smartphones and laptops that worries radio people. Right now in the UK 80% of radio listening happens through a dedicated radio set on FM, am or DAB. Under 7% of radio listening happens online of through an app and it is only growing very slowly.
Are people worried that my next door neighbour isn’t going to listen to Heart anymore when she drives home from work? Do they think she’s going to find Zane Lowe on her Apple Music app and get it up in her car and listen? Is she going to get technically complex so she can hear the new Maccabees tune rather than Olly Murs?
It’s going to take major changes in how we pay for mobile data and the quality of our mobile networks for listening to radio over a smartphone becomes a serious reality.
Confidence issues
I’d argue that radio’s problem with Apple coming is a lack of confidence.
That lack of confidence starts right at the top. Radio 1 have spent years telling us that young people don’t listen to radio as much any more. To tempt them in Radio 1 is active on YouTube, iPlayer, Instagram and just about everywhere online. It’s almost as if they’re ashamed of being a radio station.
In recent months Radio 1 executives have been talking about how they are afraid of Apple coming. They’ve described Apple as a “disruptive monster”. They’ve started to argue that Radio 1’s success shouldn’t be measured by how many people listen but by how many people see them online.
I’m sure some of these statements are politically motivated with the BBC due to justify everything it does over the coming years. However their comments about the ill-health of radio among the young and what that might mean for the future isn’t doing anything to increase confidence within the industry.
Maybe commercial radio is at fault. The way some groups act it is as if they don’t believe in what they’re doing.
They play as few different records as possible. It’s like they feel they’re so bad at picking and playing records and doing radio that someone will turn off as soon as they hear a song they don’t like and never come back.
They say the least they can get away with and make little effort to entertain. It’s like they feel they are so boring and dull that people will turn off and never come back.
Meanwhile commercial radio stations suffer from some of the same confusions as Radio 1. Online they act like a cross between a bad Buzzfeed and a tame Lads Bible. Again it is as if the radio station itself isn’t interesting enough to talk about.
When you’re acting like that it can’t inspire confidence within the industry that the future is bright. Everything some commercial radio groups do screams worry. Worry that what they’re producing isn’t that good. They act like given half an excuse people will turn off and listen to something else.
So I’d argue that Apple won’t be decimating the radio industry. They’ve made it clear they’re after music buyers not radio listeners. They don’t have designs on the advertising money either (that’s Google and a different blog!).
The one thing that will destroy the radio industry is the gloomy attitude it seems to have about itself right now. Judging by the reaction that some showed to Beats 1’s launch some are already waving the white flag.
