Apple Music Now Has 36 Million Subscribers, Could Eclipse Spotify in United States This Year

[Carnegie]

I have a question for those who use Spotify's paid service. Is there a way to get gift cards at a discount such that the service is, in effect, discounted from the regular price?

With Apple Music, it doesn't really have to cost $10 a month (even if you can't get the student price). If you care enough about the price, you can often buy gift cards at a 15% discount which means the cost of services paid through your Apple account, like Apple Music, is effectively 15% less.

 

[ersan191]

I have a question for those who use Spotify's paid service. Is there a way to get gift cards at a discount such that the service is, in effect, discounted from the regular price?

With Apple Music, it doesn't really have to cost $10 a month (even if you can't get the student price). If you care enough about the price, you can often buy gift cards at a 15% discount which means the cost of services paid through your Apple account, like Apple Music, is effectively 15% less.

Spotify never offers discounted gift cards - you can play with credit card/rewards programs and rewards points to get points or cash back like any other gift card but nothing like Apple offers. I always pick up the discounted iTunes gift cards and load my account up whenever it starts to get low.

 

[RodoBobJon]

Younger people who never had their own music library may not care, but the way Apple Music fits in with my existing music library is really a killer feature. I love that I can have old ripped obscure albums, iTunes purchases, bootlegged live shows, and my own band's rehearsal recordings all in one place along with my streaming service.

That said, I think my use cases are fairly niche and getting more so every day. If Apple Music wipes out Spotify it'll probably because it comes installed on iPhones by default. The fact that Spotify doesn't integrate with old fashioned music libraries is a major deal-breaker for someone like me, but it allows them to have a cleaner UI and conceptual model that probably makes it better for anyone who cares exclusively about the streaming catalog.

 

[tkermit]

Apple Music infuriates me. Playlists suck, interface sucks. Sticking with Spotify, thanks.

I also want to encourage competition against Apple.

I'd like to see Spotify start streaming lossless music at existing price points. Maybe that would finally get Apple moving in the same direction.

 

[stanman64]

That is because you use Spotify giving them more info for the algorithms. You need to engage the service. Or just make your own playlists.

I used Apple Music for 6 months and it never got any better. I don’t even like/dislike songs on Spotify, and it nails what I like.

 

[ersan191]

I guess you didn’t read the rest of my post either? Okay, here are some specifics:
- higher quality stream (kbps)
- Spotify Connect lets you control playback from any device
- music discovery algorithms are far better (sorry but you’d just have to try Release Radar and Discover Weekly to see the difference)
- free option if that’s your thing (it’s certainly not mine)
- a bunch of fun little features that make Spotify so worth it, including yearly playlists summarizing your most listened to songs, etc. It’s the details that matter
- Again, because it bears repeating: discovery, discovery, discovery.

1. 320 OGG is not necessarily higher quality than 256 AAC - Spotify's web player and Chromecast use 256 AAC as well. The difference is imperceptible.
Apple also has a "Mastered for iTunes" program that means many of their albums technically sound better than Spotify's versions - though, again, I highly doubt 99% of listeners can tell the difference.

2. AirPlay 2 will do the same thing and will actually support multiroom playback. It also supports playing different songs on different devices simultaneously. It is better in every way than Spotify Connect (besides device support).

3. This is a personal preference. I have extensively used both and AM suggests more music that I have liked than Spotify. I also appreciate the weekly "Chill Mix" from AM with less robust songs, Spotify doesn't have this feature.

4 & 5. Yes, if these things matter to you. Your example can be achieved with a smart playlist though (which, ironically, is a feature Spotify doesn't have and Apple does).

 

[GaryLasereyes]

For iPhone users, the fact that Apple Music is integrated into the Music app can't be overlooked. I don't want to have to switch apps to go between my own library and streaming. For that reason alone I've never even tried Spotify.

 

[jimbobb24]

I switched to Apple Music but I still use Spotify to find new music. Sometimes finding the playlist I want in Apple Music is hard. The search is fine of course. And I love the integration with my iTunes playlists - that was the reason I switched and no regrets there - but Spotify has some nice features.

 

[GaryLasereyes]

I don't care what Apple does, they're not getting my money.

Why do people who hate Apple take the time to create a profile and comment on a website that is 100% devoted to Apple products? I really don't understand it.

 

[Karma*Police]

You sound like someone who hasn’t used Discover Weekly or Release Radar. It’s not even close, like not even slightly. Apple is far behind on music discovery, sorry.

You realize discovery weekly was a response to (ie, copy of) Apple Music’s feature, right? And AM’s “for you" Page is jam packed with new music tailored to my tastes. Except like I said, Spotify has 15 million fewer songs to discover, making A.M. the undisputed king of music discoverability. The more you know...

 

[ersan191]

You realize discovery weekly was a response to (ie, copy of) Apple Music’s feature, right? And AM’s “for you" Page is jam packed with new music tailored to my tastes. Except like I said, Spotify has 15 million fewer songs to discover, making A.M. the undisputed king of music discoverability. The more you know...

I think the logic is different algorithms and more user data to make suggestions based on for Spotify.

Spotify Discover Weekly was released in July 2015 and Apple Music released New Music Mix in September 2016. AM did not launch with personalized playlists. Apple copied Spotify completely here, not the other way around. Who did it first doesn't matter much to me, more interested in who is doing it better right now.

Spotify also has Daily Mix and Release Radar, which AM does not have an equivalent of. I'm an AM subscriber and supporter - and I prefer the recommendations that AM gives me to Spotify's - but credit where credit's due, Spotify is great at discovery.

 

[lordoftheflatbush]

Apple Music now has 36 million paying subscribers around the world, an increase from well over 30 million reported last September.

Apple confirmed the updated total to The Wall Street Journal, which today reported that Apple Music is growing at a faster pace than Spotify in the United States, and could soon eclipse the service in popularity in the country.On a worldwide scale, Spotify maintains a sizeable lead over Apple Music. The streaming music service revealed that it has 70 million paying subscribers a month ago, making it nearly twice as large as Apple Music. Spotify also has a free, ad-supported tier, giving it over 140 million listeners overall around the world.

Spotify expanded to the United States in 2011, while Apple Music simultaneously launched in over 100 countries in 2015. In terms of paid subscriptions, both services offer individual plans for $9.99 per month, student plans for $4.99 per month, and family plans sharable with up to six people for $14.99 per month.

Apple Music has the benefit of being preinstalled on hundreds of millions of iPhones and iPads. It's also available on Mac, PC, Android, Apple Watch, Apple TV, vehicles equipped with CarPlay, Sonos, and HomePod.

Article Link: Apple Music Now Has 36 Million Subscribers, Could Eclipse Spotify in United States This Year

I use Soundcloud as I like the amazing mixes very much and find it much more interesting to listen to than Apple Music or Spotify.

 

[Alan Wynn]

Let me tell you what people who love music care about.

I think you mean: “Let me tell you want matters to me.”

They care about finding great new music that they love. That is a MUCH, MUCH better experience on Spotify. Apple doesn't even hold a candle. That alone is enough to seal the deal for me.

You care about having the service suggest music to you. I love that there are 10 million more songs and many artist exclusives on Apple Music. I tend to add new music based on what I hear when I am out at the club, and based on what my friends suggest.

I have a very large purchased library, including many unreleased recordings (from shows I or friends of mine attended). None of those are on Spotify, but all are accessible in the same music application (thanks to iTunes Match) I use for Apple Music. That means I have much more music I like accessible to me than I would have on Spotify.

I won't try Apple Music again unless they catch up in that regard

When did you start using Apple Music? When did you stop using it? How will you know if their algorithms are as good or better as Spotify’s given that you have made it clear that you do not and will not try it?

(and it may never happen, considering Spotify uses proprietary algorithms they purchased -- and which, again, are freaking amazing at finding music you'll love).

It cannot help you find music it does not have. Apple Music’s size advantage is a big deal.

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Spotify Connect allows you to control the music, no matter which device it's playing on, and no matter which device you're using to control it. Listening to Spotify on your phone but working at your Mac? Just press the skip forward button on your Mac and go to the next song. Looking at your phone but playing music through Spotify on your iPad? Doesn't matter. Open the Spotify app and do whatever you want to change the music.

Unfortunately, it does not support the two Apple devices that matter most to me for listening to music: Apple Watch and Apple TV. I routinely use my watch to control the music playing on my iPhone and I find that to be great. Given that Apple has been extending Continuity, I would hope they will do that for Apple Music. That seems like a nice feature.

 

[Karma*Police]

I tend to think that Apple should be broken up if Spotify dies at the hands of Apple Music. If anyone is rooting for Apple to win this fight, you shouldn’t be. This is anti-competitive practice and would mean that Apple has no competitor that would force them to improve Apple Music.

Don’t worry, if Spotify goes under, Amazon or Google will fill the void. Besides, the true monopoly are the labels. Remember when Apple fought to keep price of singles at 99 cents but the labels forced them to increase it to $1.29?

 

[ersan191]

Unfortunately, it does not support the two Apple devices that matter most to me for listening to music: Apple Watch and Apple TV. I routinely use my watch to control the music playing on my iPhone and I find that to be great. Given that Apple has been extending Continuity, I would hope they will do that for Apple Music. That seems like a nice feature.

Indeed, this is the entire point of AirPlay 2 - it's a much better version of Spotify Connect

 

[Uofmtiger]

You realize discovery weekly was a response to (ie, copy of) Apple Music’s feature, right? And AM’s “for you" Page is jam packed with new music tailored to my tastes. Except like I said, Spotify has 15 million fewer songs to discover, making A.M. the undisputed king of music discoverability. The more you know...

Yep, AM has better suggestions for me, as well.

The big game changer for me was the way AM worked with my Nav system when it came out to market and Spotify had constant issues. Apple also integrated Siri control of Apple Music into their hardware. It is simply easier to use than Spotify using CarPlay, using the Watch to control the iPhone, etc. Apple Music is part of the Apple ecosystem in a way that Spotify is not.

There has been talk about Sirikit for audio that could add Siri control of Spotify to all of Apple's devices. If they do that, I will re-evaluate. However, Apple would really be shooting themselves in the foot if they gave other music services Siri control.

 

[Alan Wynn]

There has been talk about Sirikit for audio that could add Siri control of Spotify to all of Apple's devices. If they do that, I will re-evaluate. However, Apple would really be shooting themselves in the foot if they gave other music services Siri control.

I disagree. Apple should strive to ensure that every product and service it sells is the best in its category and then add deeper ecosystem integration as a bonus. I should be able to ask Siri for directions in Google Maps, if Google wants to do the work to integrate it, as an example. Apple’s intimate knowledge of its own ecosystem should give it enough of an advantage that they should not need artificial moats. I would be OK with them waiting a year or two after launching a new service before they opened all ecosystem areas, but not much more than that.

I like Apple Music and I like Apple Map’s integration among my devices (park, get out of the car and navigation switches to walking directions, as an example), however, I want them to continue to improve both and I am glad they have competition.

 

[Karma*Police]

I think the logic is different algorithms and more user data to make suggestions based on for Spotify.

Also Spotify Discover Weekly was released in July 2015 and Apple Music released New Music Mix in September 2016. AM did not launch with personalized playlists. Apple copied Spotify completely here, not the other way around. Who did it first doesn't matter much to me, more interested in who is doing it better right now.

Spotify also has Daily Mix and Release Radar, which AM does not have an equivalent of. I'm an AM subscriber and supporter - and I prefer the recommendations that AM gives me to Spotify's - but credit where credit's due, Spotify is great at discovery.

While Apple’s original playlists were curated by humans and Discover weekly was based on computer algorithms, the premise of custom weekly playlists and helping users discover new music was introduced by AM and later copied by Spotify.

http://pocketnow.com/2015/07/20/spotifys-discovery-weekly
https://9to5mac.com/2015/07/20/spotify-playlist-discovery-apple-music/

As for daily mix and release radar, AM has equivalents. Just check the For You page... different names, sometimes different approaches, but it’s all about helping you discover new music. In fact there isn’t enough time in the day to go through them all which is why I like how AM also buckets recommendations based on genres, albums, artists, most listened to, etc.

And the reason you probably prefer AM’s recommendation is that Apple has a lot more data... after all, they’ve been doing this since the iPod days.

 

[GaryLasereyes]

I guess I am in a minority when it comes to listening to music. I love Tidal because they are the only ones with lossless FLAC. Also, I know what music I want to listen to and I search for it and find it and play it. At home, I play it through Heos on my Denon receiver, controlled through the Heos app on my iPhone. At work, I use the Tidal App to play to my Fidelio X2 headphones. Quality is number one requirement for me and so I am sticking with Tidal for now.

Most people who are looking for a streaming service aren't overly concerned with audio quality, it's a reasonable sacrifice for the convenience. That's the fatal error Tidal made coming out of the gate. For every person who has the time and desire to sit in a chair and enjoy their music through expensive headphones wired into an expensive receiver, there's 1000 people who would rather listen to just decent quality music while they do other things. I'm glad there's a service out there that caters to people like you, but you're in the vast minority.

 

[ersan191]

While Apple’s original playlists were curated by humans and Discover weekly was based on computer algorithms, the premise of custom weekly playlists and helping users discover new music was introduced by AM and later copied by Spotify.

http://pocketnow.com/2015/07/20/spotifys-discovery-weekly
https://9to5mac.com/2015/07/20/spotify-playlist-discovery-apple-music/

As for daily mix and release radar, AM has equivalents. Just check the For You page... different names, sometimes different approaches, but it’s all about helping you discover new music. In fact there isn’t enough time in the day to go through them all which is why I like how AM also buckets recommendations based on genres, albums, artists, most listened to, etc.

And the reason you probably prefer AM’s recommendation is that Apple has a lot more data... after all, they’ve been doing this since the iPod days.

"Featured Playlists" are not the same thing as personalized recommendations. "New Music Mix" is a clone of "Discover Weekly", Apple realized some (most?) people prefer personalized algorithmic recommendations instead of curated playlists so they copied Spotify a year later. Apple copied a lot of Spotify's features when they were developing Apple Music.

The "For You" page is not equivalent to Daily Mix or Release Radar. It is functionally equivalent to the "Discover" page on Spotify. Spotify also 'buckets' recommendations on this page in the exact same way as Apple.

Older user data isn't totally relevant in the case of new album recommendations. Spotify has much more 'new' data because it has significantly more subscribers (at the moment). I prefer AM suggestions because their algorithm is different, and I particularly like the "Chill Mix" concept, of which there is no equivalent on Spotify.
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Most people who are looking for a streaming service aren't overly concerned with audio quality, it's a reasonable sacrifice for the convenience. That's the fatal error Tidal made coming out of the gate. For every person who has the time and desire to sit in a chair and enjoy their music through expensive headphones wired into an expensive receiver, there's 1000 people who would rather listen to just decent quality music while they do other things. I'm glad there's a service out there that caters to people like you, but you're in the vast minority.

It's also genuinely difficult and often actually impossible to tell the difference for the majority of people.

 

[whsbuss]

Most people who are looking for a streaming service aren't overly concerned with audio quality, it's a reasonable sacrifice for the convenience. That's the fatal error Tidal made coming out of the gate. For every person who has the time and desire to sit in a chair and enjoy their music through expensive headphones wired into an expensive receiver, there's 1000 people who would rather listen to just decent quality music while they do other things. I'm glad there's a service out there that caters to people like you, but you're in the vast minority.

Well when I listen to music and hear more interesting things from one service vs. another its clear which one I would pay for.

 

[truthertech]

Let me tell you what people who love music care about. They care about finding great new music that they love. That is a MUCH, MUCH better experience on Spotify. Apple doesn't even hold a candle. That alone is enough to seal the deal for me. I won't try Apple Music again unless they catch up in that regard (and it may never happen, considering Spotify uses proprietary algorithms they purchased -- and which, again, are freaking amazing at finding music you'll love).


Yes, glad you are happy with Spotify. Others will prefer greater selection, radio channels, exclusives and deep integration with Apple ecosystem. Oh, and I forgot to add, a lot of us music lovers, we use Apple Music to support the artists that are producing the music. You may not be aware, but as Digital Music News and others have pointed out:

"Unlike Spotify, Apple Music doesn’t have a free tier, and this is what sets the two services apart. It’s also what artists find appealing about Apple Music — their art remains valued and served to paying customers. That alone has helped Apple Music secure its reputation as a more artist friendly platform."

 

[Tapiture]

Don’t worry, if Spotify goes under, Amazon or Google will fill the void. Besides, the true monopoly are the labels. Remember when Apple fought to keep price of singles at 99 cents but the labels forced them to increase it to $1.29?

I also think that Amazon and Google should be broken up, lol

 

[truthertech]

I'm probably of of the only people here that doesn't use Apple Music, and only has a free Spotify account on their computer - that I only open once a month or so. I've been buying my music for years, and iTunes + iPod (I have a bunch of older iPods that get used daily, and in rotation when I'm feeling adventurous - they still turn heads!) is always going to be the best option for me. iOS Music App's interface has become atrocious over the past few iOS versions, and recently hasn't been ordering things the way they are sorted and listed in iTunes to my iPhone on iOS 11.

Regardless, I'm still discovering new music all the time, without the need for a money sucking subscription I'd barely use, and an interface that I can't stand to use.

Hang in there. There's a lot of people, including Apple, who agree with you that the iTunes interface needs to be revamped. Over the years it has taken on too much with podcasts, store, video, etc. Apple appears to be getting ready to break out all of the individual components that work on OS and iOS the same-- App store, Books (new and revamped coming soon!), Podcasts, Apple Music and Video (name TBD).

 

[ersan191]

Yes, glad you are happy with Spotify. Others will prefer greater selection, radio channels, exclusives and deep integration with Apple ecosystem. Oh, and I forgot to add, a lot of us music lovers, we use Apple Music to support the artists that are producing the music.

Again, I'm an Apple Music supporter and subscriber, but Spotify has a much better Radio system than AM. You can create stations based on artists like with Pandora.

A lot of these comments seem to be people who use only one platform slinging mud at a platform they've never used and aren't acquainted with. The two really aren't significantly different from each other.