Why Apple Music Doesn't Share Streaming Numbers, or Offer a Free Tier

Apple Music has never published its streaming numbers. In an industry where plays and listener counts get treated like quarterly earnings, that's a deliberate non-move.

Oliver Schusser, Vice President of Apple Music & International Content, talked through the reasoning recently. Apple's been in music for over fifty years. Logic, GarageBand, Shazam, iTunes, then streaming. They build the tools artists actually use to record. That's the frame everything else sits inside.

"We're doing this because we love music. We're doing this mostly to support artists."

Same logic on free tiers. Apple treats music like film or photography: something people spent real time making, worth paying for.

"Who are we to just give it away for free?"

The whole industry, in his view, would be in better shape without them.

It's a pointed thing to say when Spotify's user base is built almost entirely on free access. Apple isn't playing that game, which makes the position easier to hold.

I think he's right. Free tiers grew the user base but it also shrunk the check. Artists got paid from a smaller pool than they should have.