Apple Music hasn’t been able to gain as much popularity as Spotify has gained, but when it comes to satisfying paying customers, it is far ahead of it. For the first time, J.D. Power conducted a streaming music satisfaction survey and shared the results this week, notes 9to5 Mac.
Apple Music users more satisfied than Spotify’s
J.D. Power explained, “Apple Music is nearly always used on Apple devices, and the service performs highest in overall satisfaction in part because of the halo effect stemming from the brand’s ecosystem.”
In other words, it can be said that Apple fans love their devices and also the apps and services on those devices.
The survey took seven different streaming music services into consideration: Spotify, TuneIn, Pandora, Rhapsody, Google Play Music, Amazon Prime Music and Apple’s music service. The rankings were based on six key measures, including cost, performance, content and service.
Apple claimed the top spot with 834 points, followed by Rhapsody, Pandora and Spotify in second, third and fourth places, respectively. The differences in points were not huge, as Rhapsody got 826 points, Pandora 825 and Spotify 824. Amazon and Google secured 818 points and tied for the last spot.
“Apple Music has the highest incidence of customers who say they selected their provider because it is part of their device ecosystem, and the brand’s phone and tablet customers have the highest levels of commitment,” stated J.D. Power.
Has exclusive content helped?
Exclusive content releases helped Apple improve customer advocacy, according to the study, but they currently act as a relatively low driver of growth for new subscribers. It was found that the overall satisfaction level of the customers who listened to content released exclusively on their streaming service was 52 points higher than those who did not; also content satisfaction levels were 59 points higher.
Almost three-fourths of the customers who listened to exclusive content say they will “definitely” recommend their provider, in comparison with 54% of people who do not listen to it, found J.D. Power. Though customer advocacy has improved, J.D. Power reports that “relatively few” customers listen to exclusive releases, and even fewer view original content as a reason they selected their streaming provider.
According to the study, Google Play ties with TuneIn for the highest number of listens to exclusive content at 20%, while Apple Music comes in just behind at 18%, followed by the industry average at 12% and Spotify at 10%, notes 9to5 Mac.
