I am a loyal Apple Music customer. I have no idea why.

Why do all music streaming services seem bad?

Every month, without fail, one of the world's largest tech companies charges my credit card $39.99. For that money, my family is given access to a bundled subscription package that includes Apple Music, the TV streaming service Apple TV+, and the gaming app Apple Arcade.

Out of all those, Apple Music gets the most use. More than Netflix, or Disney+, or XBox Game Pass, it’s the subscription service that my family of four hammers. My son uses it to blast Twenty One Pilots; my daughter cranks Taylor Swift right back at him; then my partner puts on her headphones and plays Phoebe Bridges drown everyone out.

Since I quit social media, Apple Music’s become my most-used service too. Every day, I tune in to update my playlists, search for new music, browse through music recommendations, crank songs in my car, or soundtrack my morning and evening bike commute.

I have playlists dating back years that have been played hundreds of times. Some of those playlists got me through lockdowns. Others are compilations of everything I listened to and loved over a given year. I cherish those playlists. I don’t like to think what would happen if I had to live without them. It wouldn’t be good.

So, I use my chosen music streaming service for hours every day. I wouldn’t call it an addiction, but it’s close. More than my small vinyl collection, more than the radio, more than any of the podcast services I subscribe to, more than any of the concerts I attend, hell, probably even more than my partner, the thing that has the most access to my ears is Apple Music.

I pay a premium for this privilege.

But, do I love Apple Music?

No.

Do I even like it?

Hmm.

It is an occasionally janky product. Its search engine is rubbish. It randomly deletes songs from my playlists and often doesn't map my edits and play counts between devices. Instead of getting better, the algorithm that delivers me a new playlist of music I am supposed enjoy every Friday seems to be getting worse.

Sometimes, when my chosen playlist, radio station or album is finished, that algorithm decides I should be listening to something else, and that thing is often country music, a genre of music I do not like and have no interest in listening to. Ever.

Like many Apple products and services, its price has steadily increased over the years, from $8.99 for an individual plan when it launched in 2015 to $16.99 now. The family plan is $25.99 on its own, or $39.99 when bundled with Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade, which is what we have.

On top of all of that, I have wider concerns.

Like every other major tech company, Apple is joining the AI arms race, an evolution that appears determined to erode faith and trust in the internet to the point that it becomes at best unstable, and at worst unusable.

There’s the Vision Pro, which by the day becomes less of a joke and more of an unmitigated disaster.

Then there’s Apple’s backstory getting to this point: the cut it takes from app creators, the working conditions at Foxconn, and this fucking terrible ad it made, then apologised for, for its new iPad.

So, do I trust Apple?

No. Not in the slightest.

And yet, I faithfully pony up $39.99 a month – that’s nearly $500 a year – to use a product I’m not really that into.

Why?

To answer that, we have to dig into the archives and go back to 2006. That’s when I bought my first iPod, a gadget I loved so much I took a week off work to rip my entire CD collection into mp3s. When my computer crashed halfway through this tiresome process, I dutifully started over.

To cut history short, that led me to the far inferior iTunes, then to Apple Music. Now, after years of usage, of building up playlists I can’t be bothered recreating on other streaming services, of getting used to navigating its interface, and finding workarounds for its wonky search engine, I’m used to it.

I guess I’m OK with it. Is that enough? Maybe not. As the debate over how much artists are paid for their music rightfully heats up, I’ve been asking myself some big questions, the kinds of questions others seem to be asking themselves about their own music streaming service too.

Is it the right one for me?

What’s better?

Should I change?

I think I want to change.

But when the CEO for Apple Music’s far larger rival Spotify regularly spouts horseshit like this, maybe I’m in the right place after all.

Ek? Eeek…

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Everything you need to know.

• Speaking of streaming, Hollie Smith only made $180 in streaming royalties last year. “Unfortunately, the music industry is just in complete dire straits,” Smith tells NZ Herald ($$) in a stark interview. “A lot of big internationals have come through. People save six months to go to something and that’s their entertainment budget gone.”

• Recently, I interviewed The Wine Cellar owner Rohan Evans who voiced concern that his venue may not make it past October. Now we know it won’t even get to August. Instead, it’s being refurbished, along with Whammy Bar and Backroom, into one big events centre called Double Whammy! Great move! Stuff has more, including the line-up that will open the new-look venue that will now be able to host 450 people.

• Wellington says, “Hold my beer”: It too has a new music venue opening soon. Meow Nui is set to become the capital’s version of The Powerstation, capable of holding 1000 people. Drax Project will be the first to perform at the Vivian Street premises in August. The Dominion Post has more.

• The big mid-year music wrap-ups continue with Paste, Pitchfork and the LA Times revealing its best songs of 2024 so far. I prefer Vulture’s list, even if it has a glaring omission: Kendrick Lamar. Peruse its otherwise excellent selections ($$) here.

• A bumper tour update incoming: Canterbury New Year’s festival Rolling Meadows has announced a line-up that includes Wiz Khalifa and Natasha Bedingfield; G-Eazy will perform at the Auckland Town Hall on March 1 as part of his Freak Show world tour; 90s rock act Ash will play Wellington’s San Fran on October 15 and Auckland’s Tuning Fork on October 16; controversial Australian hip-hop group OneFour will play three shows with a full line-up in August; Fur Patrol will reunite for three shows; and Princess Chelsea says David Lynch is the inspiration for her Midwinter Ball at The Civic in Auckland on August 3, and at New Plymouth’s Theatre Royal on August 10. Sign me up for that one.

• Local DJ Messie scored plenty of headlines when she became Fred Again’s opening act on his recent Australasian tour. Now, she’s heading to Glastonbury.

• Finally, are Lorde and CharliXCX beefing? I hope not, because it would taint what is another excellent release from the British artist who refuses to fit into mainstream pop trends. Brat is a big, bold throwback, a dancefloor filler that’s equal parts C+C Music Factory, Dua Lipa, Fred Again and Yeezus, as well as being a natural successor to her excellently abrasive lockdown record How I’m Feeling Now. I’m digging it, and I am nowhere near the target market. Here’s the song causing that potential ruckus with Lorde, ‘Girl, so confusing.’