This was an Environmental Analysis done on Apple Music

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An Environmental Analysis for
Apple Music
Timothy Telo
Full Sail University
Project & Portfolio II: Business and Marketing
03/12/2022

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The STEEPLE Analysis:
SOCIOLOGICAL: Within the Apple Music, app you can listen to music and share said
music with friends. Music has always been used as a social tool to gather or
connect the masses. Apple Music now has a feature called Connect where fans can
connect and follow along with their favorite artists posts.” Fans could then
comment on or ‘like’ something an artist posted, and share it themselves direct to
iMessage, Facebook, Twitter and email. Artists could develop followings, just like
they can on the aforementioned social media platforms, and respond directly to a
fan’s comments” (Stassen, 2019).
TECHNOLOGICAL: Apple Music is a department that has multiple teams running the
streaming service. From analysis to app structure, every team is using the online
technological app and systems to run everything smoothly. With their parent
company being a major tech company, they are continuously advancing the
software for Apple Music and adding in new elements to stay ahead of the curve.
“Apple is building immersive music-authoring tools directly into Logic Pro later
this year” (Lowe, 2021).
ECONOMIC: Each payment plan is built to support different needs and quantities of
the people buying the plans. Staying ahead of the curve economically means that
they must price their plans competitively. Apple Music’s standard plan is the same
price as most of their competitions, so they rely on the technological factors to
support their pricing and beat out the competition. “As you can see in the chart
above, most of the streaming services line up relatively well with one another. One
area where Apple Music, Spotify, and Google Play Music have an advantage,
though, is with their family plan offerings as you can have 6 users, all with
separate libraries, for just $14.99 per month” (Miller, 2019).
ECOLOGICAL: There is no real ecological factor within Apple Music. They have
demographics all over, and if they have a device that supports Apple Music then
they will be fine. Ultimately, an ecological factor could be the location of their
demographic, but this is too broad to put as an actual ecological factor.
POLITICAL: The political factors that fall into Apple Music’s STEEPLE are
primarily government stability. This can represent the state of the economy and

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that can then leave political factors, but you cannot have one without the other.
“Include government stability, level of bureaucracy, corruption, freedom of press,
home market lobbying groups etc.” (Dudovsky, 2021).
LEGAL: An ongoing problem in the music industry is illegally downloaded music.
Apple Music must abide by the copywrite laws placed to protect artists and their
profit. If a change within copywrite laws is made, then Apple Music must conform
and adjust their policy structure to the revised copywrite law. “Songs downloaded
from Apple Music are copyrighted and grant the producer or artist exclusive rights
for their use and distribution” (Blues, 2016).
ETHICAL: We face a lot of ethical dilemmas within the music industry, but a big one
today is how streaming services pay their artists per streamed song. Before
streaming services were accessible to music artists, they would make a larger profit
off their hard copies than they would now using one of these services. Apple Music
must pay competitively to gain the support of artists in order to be able to operate,
and even though it is competitive, it may not be as profitable for their clients. “The
royalties paid to artists are so low, however, that they cannot solely use that to
continue their work, leaving them in desperate need of more revenue” (Shapiro,
2016)

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The SWOT Analysis (Citations optional)
Provide at least three statements in each of the four sections of the SWOT chart: Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Include explanations and details within the chart that
make your points clear. A phrase is not enough. Each point should be a short paragraph.
HELPFUL HARMFUL
INTERNAL
STRENGTHS
1. Apple Music made their app
supported on more than IOS
devices. This shows strength in
accessibility. The parent
company, Apple Inc., knew they
needed to have this streaming
service supported by more than
just their products.
2. The content that Apple Music
provides is an overwhelming
strength. With 90 million songs
and over 30,000 expert curate
playlists, Apple Music will
continuously grow even larger.
The diversity and quantity of the
content on the streaming services
will attract a broader
demographic, and this can be
more profitable.
3. Apple Music has multiple
payment plans that can fit the
budget and needs of multiple
demographics. This shows
strength in flexibility, and this
holds more room to make profit
and appeal to their customers.
WEAKNESSES
1. Although Apple Music has
strength in their payment plan,
the pricing of their payment plan
isn’t that competitive. Their
standard plan is $10 which is
generally the same price as their
competition. They will have to
utilize more resources to become
more favorable in the content
they provide.
2. The way Apple Music is
advertised is a weakness. Users
typically see ads for Spotify and
Tidal all-over social media.
Apple Music does advertise, but
not as much because of the
reliance they have on the
popularity of their parent
company.
3. Although Apple Music is its own
entity, it is still a department of
Apple Inc, and this can be a
weakness. The actions that the
parent company make has an
impact on how consumers view
Apple Music as well. If Apple
Inc. has a negative presence to
consumers, so will their
departments.

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EXTERNAL
OPPORTUNITIES
1. The opportunity to grow is
always present. Music is being
made by many all over the
world, and this can help Apple
Music add to their ever-growing
library. It also gives them the
ability to branch into
international music to appeal to
people in different countries.
2. The technology being developed
by their parent company is an
opportunity to create
advancements in the tools that
Apple Music gives to its artists
and customers. We have seen an
example of this in special audio
that is now being utilized
through Apple for music.
3. Social media is an opportunity to
grow their brands awareness.
When Apple Music utilizes
platforms like Instagram or
Twitter to advertise their
platforms, then the vast majority
will see their service and seek it
more often. This is used by
plenty of large companies, and
with Apple Music already having
a big name, they can grow even
more.
THREATS
1. One threat is how well some
competitors pay their artists to
stream their music. Tidal pays
the most with $0.12 per stream,
whereas Apple pays $0.01. This
will lead to artists choosing the
competition over Apple Music.
2. Spotify is Apple Music’s biggest
threat in terms of competition.
Spotify controls 31% of the
music streaming market, and
Apple only controls 15%. They
will need to compare the services
and make improvements to gain
more control.
3. The price in which some
competitor price their payment
plan can be a large threat to
Apple Music. Since Apple Music
is priced at the average range,
but with companies like Pandora
that charge $5 per month, it can
cause consumers to navigate to
Pandora. Room for price
adjustment can be made to
effectively compete.

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Conclusions:
Apple Music faces many threats, but if we analyze their weaknesses then we
can see where corrections can be made. There is a correlation between weakness
and threat, so by addressing and fixing the weaknesses it can eliminate current and
potential threats. For example, if Apple Music looks at Spotify as a threat, and we
look at their weaknesses and see that advertisement is a factor, then Apple Music
can restructure the way that they advertise to efficiently weed out that threat.
However, Apple has many strengths to stay ahead of their competitors. The
same correlation can be made between strengths and opportunities as well. When
Apple Music utilizes their strengths in the appropriate way, it creates a domino
effect of opportunities surrounding the realm of the strength. Apple Inc. is known
for their IOS platforming, but Apple Music saw the strength in being compatible
with other devices. This created the opportunity for more downloads which leads
to more customers which then leads to profit.

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References:
In APA format, list each reference you used (at least five). Each reference in this section should
have a corresponding “short form” citation in the STEEPLE section or the Conclusions section.
Apple Music announces spatial audio and lossless audio. Apple Newsroom. (2022, March 12).
Retrieved March 14, 2022, from https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/05/apple-music-
announces-spatial-audio-and-lossless-audio/
Apple Music. Apple. (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2022, from https://www.apple.com/apple-
music/
Apple Music's Zane Lowe explains how Spatial Audio Will Transform Music. Apple Newsroom.
(2022, March 12). Retrieved March 14, 2022, from
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/06/apple-musics-zane-lowe-explains-how-spatial-
audio-will-transform-music/
Apple Pestel Analysis - Research-Methodology. Research. (2021, February 17). Retrieved March
14, 2022, from https://research-methodology.net/apple-pestel-analysis-4/
Callyhamilton. (2016, January 24). Apple Music – SWOT analysis. surfingsound. Retrieved
March 14, 2022, from https://surfingsound.wordpress.com/2016/01/24/apple-music-swot-
analysis/
Fitzjohn, S., & Tips, M. M. (2022, February 23). Streaming payouts per platform & royalties
calculator (). Producer Hive. Retrieved March 14, 2022, from
https://producerhive.com/music-marketing-tips/streaming-royalties-breakdown/
Germain, T. (n.d.). Best Music Streaming Services. Consumer Reports. Retrieved March 14,
2022, from https://www.consumerreports.org/best-music-streaming-service-for-you-
a2126039193/
Germain, T. (n.d.). Best Music Streaming Services. Consumer Reports. Retrieved March 14,
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a2126039193/
Miller, C. (2017, March 13). Apple Music vs the competition: How Today's music streaming
services compare. 9to5Mac. Retrieved March 14, 2022, from
https://9to5mac.com/2017/03/13/music-streaming-service-comparison/
Santo, P. (2022, February 2). Spotify dominates streaming music, report finds. The Washington
Times. Retrieved March 14, 2022, from
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/feb/2/spotify-dominates-streaming-music-
report-finds/

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Shapiro, N. (n.d.). Streaming vs. pay-per-song: The ethical implications. The Observer.
Retrieved March 14, 2022, from https://fordhamobserver.com/30495/features/streaming-
vs-pay-per-song-the-ethical-implications/
Stassen, M. (2019, August 22). Apple Music Connect: What could it have become if it wasn't
scrapped? Music Business Worldwide. Retrieved March 14, 2022, from
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/apple-music-connect-what-could-it-have-
become-if-it-wasnt-scrapped/
Terrabay. (2016, October 5). Question: Q: Can I use songs downloaded from Apple Music in a
home movie? Can I use songs downloaded from Apple Mus... - Apple Community.
Retrieved March 14, 2022, from https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7696168