Music streaming is a crowded market where platforms offer most of the same content, so how does Apple Music differentiate itself? Oliver Schusser, vp of Apple Music and international content, Apple, joins Billboard On The Record to break down how the service has transitioned from its early Beats Music roots into one of the world’s leading streaming platforms. He explains Apple Music’s focus on a curated, high-quality listening experience built around editorial expertise, artist relationships and product integration rather than scale alone. Schusser also discusses Apple’s stance on maintaining a paid-only model, how the platform uses AI in discovery and fraud prevention and the importance of its partnerships with artists and labels.

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Kristin Robinson: Music streaming services are not exactly created equal. Sure, they might look very similar on the surface, in that music streamers largely have the same catalog of songs, but as time is going on, these competitors, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, so many more, are beginning to differentiate. This can come in the form of new features or it can also come in the form of royalty rates, business plans, policies, as these things all start to diverge. So today we are here at Apple Music’s brand new studios in Culver City to talk about the changing streaming service market and hear from their head honcho, Oliver Schusser, about what makes Apple Music different. Oliver Schusser welcome to On The Record, thank you so much for having us. We’re at Apple Music Studios today. Thanks so much-

Oliver Schusser: Thanks for being here. It’s great to, great to do this.

Today we’re gonna be talking about kind of differentiation among streaming services, what makes Apple Music different, but I feel like, obviously like a good place to start is the fact that we’re at your studios, which is a differentiating factor for you guys. So, tell me about the studio and when it was built. It’s brand new. So, just kinda give me a lay of the land. When did it open? Why did you guys prioritize this? Let’s start there.

Yeah, we’re, we’re here in Culver City, which is where, where, where we’re headquartered as well, in LA. When we started Apple Music, 11 years ago, we were worried that music streaming would be impersonal and it wouldn’t allow artists to, uh, express themselves beyond just the music. The music, it’s delivered by a record label or a distributor. And we wanted Apple Music to be more than that. We wanted it to be a platform for artists to connect with their fans in whichever way they wanted.

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