Apple announced on Monday that its music streaming service, aptly called Apple Music, now has 38 million paid monthly subscribers.
Apple Music has gained two million paid monthly subscribers in a little over a month, marking a solid growth rate. The news comes from Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services.
The executive further highlighted that there are two billion potential music subscribers worldwide, who could be wooed over to one platform or another as Apple Music and Spotify only account for roughly 100 million.
Music Streaming Gaining Ground
Music streaming is gradually becoming the main and preferred type of paid music consumption, and as it keeps gaining ground, companies such as Apple, Amazon, and Google, are racing to get a bigger piece of it.
Spotify is still leading the sector, boasting 71 million premium subscribers at the end of last year, and 159 million monthly users. Apple Music still has a long way to go to catch up to Spotify, but the comparison is not exactly fair right now.
Spotify also has a free ad-supported tier, which appeals to music lovers who don't want to pay for a music subscription. Apple and other rivals don't have free tiers, they only offer paid subscriptions at this point.
Should Apple Music introduce a free tier sometime in the future, it would surely gain more users, who could then turn into paid subscribers if they want more perks. Nevertheless, Apple Music is still boasting more subscribers than any of its rivals, save for the industry leader - Spotify.
Apple Music Growth
Apple Music has mainly relied on marketing and exclusive deals for select albums, which helped gain a strong subscriber base. The popularity of iPhones further helped its cause.
While the 100 million music subscribers for Apple Music and Spotify combined is nothing to scoff at, Cue says there is still room to grow. Cue adds that more than 500 million users access Apple's App Store each week, and all of them could be convinced to get an Apple Music subscription.
Apple Music And Artist Loyalties
Cue further highlights that Apple also pays great importance to artist royalties. Over the years, the music industry has seen a lot of chatter and controversy regarding how much money artists earn through streaming platforms. Taylor Swift, for instance, notoriously pulled her music from services when she was not satisfied with the terms and the money.
"The real opportunity for music - and it's not about Spotify or us or the labels, it's about artists - is how do they get their music to everyone around the world and how do they get compensated for that," says Cue. "We both have to grow by significant amounts in order to get to the numbers which it should."
