Speaking at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in San Francisco, Jimmy Iovine said that “Apple has taught me not to give out numbers [but] I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t doing well.”
Iovine said that while a free ad-supported tier could allow the company to rapidly acquire subscribers, a tactic popularised by Spotify, that wasn’t a route Apple wanted to take …
Reports CNET..
Iovine said that free tiers were unfair to artists, noted The Verge.
Iovine said Apple could quickly raise [subscriber numbers] to 500 million if it offered a free ad-supported model.
“We don’t want to do that. We believe that we’ve built something powerful enough and strong enough that it will work.”
In a nod to Steve Jobs’ famous comment about Apple being at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts, Iovine said that both sides of the equation were needed.
Free is a real issue. This whole thing about freemium, maybe at one time we needed it. But now it’s a shell game. These companies are building an audience on the back of the artist.
Jimmy Iovine wasn’t the only senior Apple exec at the summit: Jony Ive also spoke fondly about Steve Jobs and his new role at Apple.
Photo: The Verge
