Apple Music Hits 20 Million Paid Subscribers

Despite being somewhat late to the game, at least compared to the more established players at that time like Spotify, Pandora, and etc., Apple Music has been growing pretty fast and in an interview with Billboard, Apple’s executives have confirmed to the publication that Apple Music has since passed the 20 million paid subscriber mark.

Prior to this and last we heard, Apple Music’s subscriber mark was around 13 million, so for them to achieve that number in a few months is indeed impressive. If anything it seems to have confirmed one analyst’s prediction that Apple Music will hit 20 million by the end of 2016. It probably helps that Apple Music is bundled on every iOS device sold.

However despite that milestone, Apple is still quite far from their competitor, Spotify, who last we heard in September had 40 million paid subscribers and more than 100 million subscribers in total. This means that not only is Spotify earning money from subscriptions, but they are also earning money from the ads that they play to users who aren’t subscribed.

For those unfamiliar, Apple Music is Apple’s on-demand music streaming platform. The service offers users a free 3-month trial, after which they will have to subscribe at $9.99 a month if they want to keep listening. Apple has also introduced family plans as well as student prices which is basically half the price of the regular subscription.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Audio
Tags: Apple Music, Music