Jimmy Iovine, the record producer turned Apple music executive, invokes Simon and Garfunkel to explain why he doesn’t like using algorithms to select songs.  “You put Paul Simon into a playlist. An algorithm will tell you that the next song is Art Garfunkel,” said Iovine, referring to the two halves of the legendary 1960s pop duo. “But it’s not the next song to play. Ask Paul Simon that. They play different kinds of music for different moods.”  Iovine, who joined Apple last year after it acquired Beats for $3.2 billion, says machines – and the streaming services that rely on them – have taken the soul out of the music industry.  It’s a well-worn argument for Iovine, who was pushing for human curation of music long before Apple acquired the headphone and music-services company that he started with hip-hop artist Dr. Dre. But now he has the resources of the world’s most-valuable company to test that vision.  Apple Music, introduced Monday, combines a subscription-based, on-demand streaming-music service, a 24-hour global Internet radio station, and a service called Connect for artists to post content for listeners.  The streaming service will cost $9.99 a month after a three-month free trial. The radio service and Connect are free. Unlike some other music services, Apple Music has no free on-demand tier.  Apple Music faces significant hurdles. The subscription service confronts an entrenched competitor in Spotify that has used a seven-year head start to build a dominant position in the nascent market. More fundamentally, Apple is trying to shift the listening habits of millions.  Iovine says the service has the potential to revive an industry that has grown risk averse and limited artists’ creativity.  “This ecosystem is made to break through that,” he said, sitting next to Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president and the architect of its new music strategy.  One example of that is Beats 1, a 24-hours-a-day Internet radio broadcast going to 100 countries. It won’t follow the rules of commercial radio, Iovine said. There will be no market research, no defined genre, and no need to play quick-hit songs.  “If we can do that, the audience is going to love it,” said Iovine.  Cue said Apple may consider sponsors for Beats 1. But “there will be no interrupting commercials,” Iovine added.  Cue said Apple’s negotiations with music labels, publishers and artists were not easy, but Apple had two assets: a deep commitment to music over many years and a history of not squeezing the industry for more money after iTunes became the world’s largest music retailer.  Apple is hoping that people are willing to pay $10 a month to stream an unlimited number of songs. With the music download market shrinking, $120 per user per year would boost the total money spent on music.  “The more people paying for and listening to music, the more artists will be compensated for it,” said Cue, noting that it’s still early days for streaming music. “There’s billions of people and 15 million subscribers so I’d call that early.”  “We’re trying to do something that’s bigger than streaming, that’s bigger than radio,” he added.  ______________________________________________________ For the latest news and analysis, follow @wsjd and like us on Facebook to get our news right in your feed: Get breaking news and personal-tech reviews delivered right to your inbox. More from WSJ.D: And make sure to visit WSJ.D for all of our news, personal tech coverage, analysis and more, and add our XML feed to your favorite reader.
Jimmy Iovine and Eddy Cue, the architects of Apple Music, say the service can change listening habits and expand the market for music subscriptions.