The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Financial decision · 2014–2015
Beats Music gained 111,000 subscribers and was shut down to make room for Apple Music
Beats Music launched in January 2014 at $9.99 a month, reached only ~111,000 accounts, and was shut down in November 2015 to make way for Apple Music.
Beats Music (Beats Electronics) · Apple · 2015-11
What happened
Beats Music launched on 21 January 2014 at $9.99 a month, built by Beats Electronics founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine and positioned squarely against Spotify and Rdio. It leaned on star curation and an AT&T family plan to stand out.
A leaked royalty report placed its base at about 111,000 accounts in March 2014, against Spotify's more than six million paying subscribers at the time.
Apple announced a $3 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics, including Beats Music, in May 2014. On 30 November 2015 Apple shut Beats Music down and pushed its users onto Apple Music, cancelling all subscriptions.
Why it happened
- A subscription service that had not reached a meaningful base by its second year was absorbed by a buyer that already had its own streaming plans.
- Beats Music's only real edge was curation, but the market had already picked Spotify, so a late entrant at the same price had no reason to exist at scale.
- The acquisition bought Beats' brand and executives more than its product, so the service was redundant the moment Apple Music launched.
The lesson
Beats Music showed that a well-funded music service still needs users: 111,000 accounts could not justify a $3 billion product, and the buyer absorbed it to cannibalise it.
Aftermath
Apple shut the service on 30 November 2015 and migrated subscribers to Apple Music; the Beats brand continued under Apple in headphones and audio.
Sources
- The Verge：2014年1月21日上线、月费9.99美元、对标Spotify与Rdio
- Billboard：2014年5月苹果以30亿美元收购Beats Electronics与Beats Music
- Billboard：2015年11月30日Beats Music关停、引导用户转Apple Music
- The Guardian：2014年3月约11.1万注册账户（个人+AT&T家庭）、对比Spotify超600万
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