Competing with Spotify is by no means an easy undertaking, but if any company is equipped to give it a go, Apple is probably the one. Apple Music has experienced significant growth since it launched in June 2015, and now it looks like, at least in the US, the relatively new platform is legitimately challenging Spotify’s position as the most popular streaming service.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple’s monthly subscriber growth rate of 5 percent is higher than Spotify’s 2 percent, and if those numbers hold steady, Apple Music will be on pace to have more paying subscribers than Spotify by this summer. That said, it’s important to note that American domination isn’t the same as world domination: Spotify currently has about 70 million subscribers worldwide, which is nearly twice as much as Apple Music’s 36 million users. Also significant is the number of users of both services who are currently on free or discounted trials and could potentially become full paying subscribers, and Apple Music reportedly has “three to four times” the amount of those users than Spotify does.
It’s a real battle, and both services have made moves in recent months an an attempt to become more appealing to listeners, artists, and record labels: Spotify is increasing streaming royalties for artists by nearly 50 percent and sharing songwriter and producer data for songs with listeners, while Apple’s Beats 1 regularly adds taste-making radio shows to its programming lineup.
