Proving the concept that free trials work, Apple, Inc. has revealed Thursday that it has signed up 11 million people to its Apple Music music streaming service.

The service, which launched June 30, opened to the public with an initial 3 month free trial period in an effort to get people to try the service before they are asked to pay $9.99 per month for the privilege, or $14.99 per month for a family plan.

Apple Music features include playlists that are curated by “experts” in the music industry versus those that use algorithms, along with a the digital radio station Beats 1. A social function called Connect allows artists of all persuasions to interact with fans.

“We’re thrilled with the numbers so far,” Apple’s Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue is reported to have said.

“We think we have hit a nerve,” Beats Co-founder Jimmy Iovine added. “This isn’t just about providing access to music, this is about building a community.”

“From the artist community side, I’m hearing a sign of relief, that now finally they have tools they can use to access their fans. To Apple’s credit, they move like lightning. You get what you give.”

Sycophants and spin

Signing up 11 million people to a free trial is a decent effort, and a combination of Apple’s brand prestige, coupled with a strong novelty factor has helped with the growth.

But here’s the thing: it’s a FREE trial, and that 11 million figure means nothing until the 3 month trial period is up and they’re forced to actually pay for the service, not that you’d know that if you read the spin from the sycophant Apple fanboys at various media outlets.

“Watch out, Spotify: Apple Music already has 11 million trial members” the usually decent BGR headlined their take, before noting “if every member currently signed up for a trial membership were to be converted to full members in October, Apple Music would have half the paying members of Spotify right off the bat…”

Yeah, no matter how much you worship the cult of the late Steve Jobs, that, in any reasonable and fair assessment, is not going to happen, no matter how much it is said, and to be fair, BGR isn’t the only site making the absurd assessment.

The concept also ignores one other factor: even a good number of Apple fanboys don’t like Apple Music, from long time Apple aficionado Jim Dalrymple who describes it as a nightmare, through to readers of 9to5Mac who think the service is too buggy and should have been released in beta.

The only possible thing working in Apple’s favor is that it would appear that users who have signed up to the free trial have committed themselves to automatically opt-in to being billed monthly once the free trial period ends, so it probably would be fair to suggest that Apple will land maybe a couple of million paid subscribers simply due to the fact that a good portion of the sheep who signed up in the first place don’t know how to cancel their subscriptions.

Come October/ November, presuming Apple releases the numbers, we will all eventually find out.

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