One of the unique features of Apple Music is that it relies on actual human beings to curate music. This is unlike some other streaming services out there that typically rely on algorithms to determine the kind of music you like, such as how many times you’ve played the song, how often do you visit the genre, and etc.
In fact according to an interview with Apple’s Jimmy Iovine in the London Evening Standard, Iovine believes that human curation is what sets Apple Music apart from the competition. Iovine was asked on what he thought about the streaming landscape and if he was worried about a potential newcomer that could offer up an even lower price.
Based on his answer, Iovine doesn’t seem too fazed as he thinks the human curation element will be more than sufficient to keep listeners happy. “Music deserves elegance and the distribution right now is not great. It’s all over the place and there are a bunch of utilities. That’s the best you can find. It’s basically a really narrow, small, inelegant way to have music delivered. So it’s sterile, programmed by algorithms and numbing.”
He later adds, “Algorithms don’t understand the subtlety and the mixing of genres. So we hired the best people we know. Hired hundreds of them.” As it stands he might be right as the latest official numbers have revealed that Apple Music has 11 million trial subscribers, but like we said the more important numbers are the ones that come after the 3-month trial period has ended.
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