Apple Music: 79% of free trial users have stayed on

Following a survey conducted by music research company MusicWatch, on Apple Music users, Apple Inc. has disputed one of the figures.

In a survey published overnight, MusicWatch reported Apple Music’s retention rate for users of the three-month trial period was just 48%. Apple pushed back on the figure in a statement issued to The Verge; the tech giant said 79% of users who signed up for Apple Music are still using the service.

MusicWatch’s survey of 5,000 US consumers, aged 13 and up, also reported that while 77% of iOS users in the US are aware of Apple Music, just 11% have tried it – figures which havenot been disputed by the streaming service. However usage levels for iOS users of iTunes are on a similar level and 18% of the users of Apple’s now defunct streaming service iTunes Radio have migrated onto Apple Music.

Among Apple Music’s trial users, 28% of Spotify Premium customers also use Apple Music. However Apple has a clear battle ahead to migrate users of freemium services onto its paid-subscription only service: only 11% of Spotify’s free users use Apple Music and just 6% of Pandora users.

Interestingly, the new research study found that 64% of those surveyed said they were “very likely” to pay to subscribe to Apple Music after the end of the free trial, but 61% said they had turned off the auto-renewal option in their iTunes account settings. While the latter finding won't please the major labels, who will allegedly make their final judgements when the trial period ends in October, the service is only two-months into its lifespan andonly 77%of iOS users are even aware of Apple Music.

“In terms of benchmarking Apple Music, 40 percent of iOS users are buying digital downloads from iTunes, suggesting trial of Apple Music could be higher,” said Russ Crupnick, managing partner of MusicWatch. “That’s the disadvantage of not being the first mover in a market where very good services currently exist.”

According to the survey:

* 30% of Apple Music streamers use Apple’s radio station Beats 1 while 27% use Connect, a bulletin board where artists can pass on news to their fans.

* A third of Apple Music users started buying more tracks after using the service.

* 61% of respondents have already disabled the auto-renewal option in their accounts.