“The Music Wars”: An iPhone & Android Debate

After four long years of silence since his massively popular freshman album “Orange Channel”, R&B artist Frank Ocean released his second studio album entitled “Blonde” exclusively to iTunes and Apple Music last month.

As such, this created an uproar of excitement in eager fans all over the world.

While many fans got on their buses the following Monday, with plugged-in-headphones and listened to the singer’s newest musical masterpiece, a large portion of Ocean’s supporters were left out of the hype because of the type of cell phones they own.

People with iPhones had immediate access to the album, while users of Android phones had not yet listened to it because it hadn’t been released to Google Play or the popular music app Spotify.

This delay in accessing music is nothing new, and Ocean is certainly not the first artist to solely release his content to iTunes or Apple Music.

“This has happened before. Like, with Beyonce’s album “Lemonade.” I was so annoyed,” said junior and Android user Simrin Hayer. 

For a long time, the iPhone has proven to be the priority music distributor for artists to sell their music.

Some musicians, such as Drake, have exclusive deals with Apple Music, requiring them to postpone the release of their work to Spotify and Google Play for a few weeks after their iTunes or Apple Music release date.

Other artists, such as Taylor Swift, refuse to be on Spotify at all, leaving fans who can’t or won’t pay for music to wait for a release on YouTube or obtain the music illegally.

Nevertheless, these kinds of delays have caused major annoyance among the non-iPhone using community at the school.

Out of 30 students surveyed, 20 percent owned cell phones other than iPhones.

Even though students with iPhones do not face the struggles Android users face when obtaining new music, they still recognize the unfair treatment.

“As an iPhone user, I believe it’s fine. But for Android users, I can see why people are upset,” said sophomore Shannon Royer.

Music plays a huge role in the cultural identity of this school. From football games to “The Bridge” and prom, current music is used to create a unified atmosphere that all students should be able to enjoy when they want to enjoy it.

“We should all be given the same opportunity to listen to new music and celebrate it together. It is way more fun that way. Nobody should be left out,” said Junior Gillian Graeme.

It’s clear to see that the music industry favors iTunes and Apple Music over any other music sites, and in order to see a real improvement in the music availability for non-iPhone users.

Artists should be required to release their content to all major platforms.

This requirement would provide equal opportunity to all music listeners regardless of their cell phone type.

If the music industry changes its ways and artists begin putting their music on a wide variety of music sharing sites, everyone will have equal access to the latest music.