Spotify Continues to Grow Faster Than Apple Music Thanks to Free Tier

[MacRumors]

Spotify today announced it now has over 140 million subscribers worldwide, including users that only listen to the free ad-supported tier.

Spotify last said it had over 100 million subscribers in June 2016, so it has gained around 40 million listeners in one year to remain the world's largest streaming music service. Spotify didn't update its number of paying subscribers, which stood at over 50 million worldwide as of March 2017.

By comparison, Apple at its Worldwide Developers Conference last week announced that Apple Music now has 27 million paying subscribers, just weeks before the streaming music service turns two years old. Apple Music doesn't have a free tier, and Apple doesn't regularly disclose how many users are using the free trial.

Last year, Spotify vice president Jonathan Forster said Apple Music has helped, not hurt, their business by raising the popularity of streaming music services overall. He added that, at the time, Spotify was growing more quickly and adding more users since Apple Music launched, a trend that appears to be continuing.

"It's great that Apple is in the game," Forster told Reuters. "They are definitely raising the profile of streaming. It is hard to build an industry on your own."

While many artists remain critical about Spotify's free ad-supported tier, longtime holdout Taylor Swift reversed course last week and made her catalog of music available on most streaming music services. Swift's music was previously exclusive to Apple Music, only after Apple agreed to pay artists during its free trial period.

Spotify's revenue grew more than 50 percent, to $3.3 billion last year, according to the company's latest financial statement. The company has committed to spending more than $2 billion in payments to record labels over the next two years.

Article Link: Spotify Continues to Grow Faster Than Apple Music Thanks to Free Tier

 

[Sunny1990]

No need to make it a race with Spotify. Just make a better service and everybody will be happy.

 

[Sirious]

We were lucky to get three months free from Apple in the first place lol

 

[Vanilla35]

"It's great that Apple is in the game," Forster told Reuters. "They are definitely raising the profile of streaming. It is hard to build an industry on your own."

LOL, love his humble approach.

I still like Pandora's algorithms best in this segment. It's a shame Pandora is struggling to find a future at the moment. Their app could use a rework though.

 

[modemthug]

The Spotify VP guy is super classy; good quote

 

[ktecac]

Spotify is still the better music service in my opinion.
Not only is the interface better but I can use it on literally almost any device. PS4, PC, browsers, etc
However if Spotify can't make money they won't continue, so I hope Apple Music does improve.

 

[Jimmdean]

So more than half in the free tier? That's seems like a huge bubble that's going to burst on them one day...

 

[joeykingpin]

I am an Apple diehard, but I must admit that Spotify offers a much better user interface for paid subscribers. I finally dropped Apple Music last month and won't return until they make some improvements.

 

[mariusignorello]

Of course it will grow if you give away your product for free.

 

[BigDO]

I wish spotify was available without all the hurdles in my part of the world, Apple Music sucks, both the app interface and the algorihms for suggesting new stuff.

 

[canny]

It's a shame that Siri, Homepod etc don't work with Spotify. Apple Music seems like a generic shopping mall experience, but Spotify seem to actually be music enthusiasts.

It feels like Apple are pushing me away. Apple were not too successful with the iPod until they got it working with Windows, but they haven't understood that people want to continue using Spotify on Apple hardware.

 

[akash.nu]

Spotify has not been operating under profit since the inception. It's not going to survive for too long this way, especially when players like Apple, amazon and google are competing.

 

[44267547]

No need to make it a race with Spotify.

It's not a race and it should never be. It's about making the experience more refined for the user and the ease of using the service through a better interface, more personalized music suggestions and being updated regularly to keep the services refreshed.

 

[dasmb]

"Thanks to free tier."

Um -- how about thanks to being a much better service? Apple Music has high latency for playback, browsing and search, a much worse user experience overall and no sharing music or playlists with Android or desktop users.

And then there's the Spotify AI, such as Discover Weekly, which are uncanny. I am delighted weekly by new music in my Discover Weekly playlist.

Meanwhile, Apple Music is the SkyMall of music services.

As a lifelong music fan, Spotify is in my opinion far underpriced for the experience it delivers. The best human and AI curated discovery. The best selection. Great sound quality and low latency service. Best of all, it doesn't take over my personal music library and occasionally block access to it just to market itself -- which is my only experience with Apple Music since the free trial ended. And I barely used the free trial.

 

[WhoDaKat]

It's a shame that Siri, Homepod etc don't work with Spotify. Apple Music seems like a generic shopping mall experience, but Spotify seem to actually be music enthusiasts.

Music enthusiasts LOL Algorithms and corporate mucky mucks more like it. And lets face it, the only reason Spotify has had the success they have had is due to millennials wanting everything for free. I don't understand why artists continue to let Spotify and YouTube give out their content for free. These execs are crazy about torrenting and shutting it down as soon as possible, but they just let these big companies give it away for free? I don't know what deals are in place, but Spotify better prepare itself for a future where the artist and record companies actually want to get paid for their music. Because its coming.

 

[smacrumon]

I'd try Apple Music if it was free, but it isn't. :-(

 

[dasmb]

the only reason Spotify has had the success they have had is due to millennials wanting everything for free.

The 50 million paying users of Spotify know you are wrong, but then so do you. What we don't know is why you say it anyway.

 

[AngerDanger]

Never been a fan of these streaming services. However, it's starting to seem like a lucrative business opportunity, so I'm officially launching AngerDanger Stream. Start your free trial at angerdanger.com/stream.

 

[citysnaps]

Am I supposed to care? It's not a race.

Apple Music suits me perfectly and integrates well with Siri using my watch.

 

[busyscott]

Otherwise known as the drug dealer approach, "The first batch is on me "

 

[thisismyusername]

It's not just because of the free tier. It's also because Spotify is the better service. I have a hard time paying for a music streaming service but I definitely would never pay for one that locks me into a certain hardware brand. It's the same reason I'd never buy a movie on iTunes.

 

[epca12]

I agree with Apple in not having a free tier with respect to paying artists, but otherwise it would be a great way to get people into Apple Music

 

[itsmilo]

May also help that it doesnt suck.

 

[palmerc2]

I like Spotify more than Apple Music. The ability to pick up a song on my Mac I was playing on my phone, much much better algorithms for song recommendations. I like to play a song then create a station for said song, and Spotify blows Apple out of the water.

The only two advantages I can see about Apple Music is the catalog of music is bigger, and it works with Siri.

Edit: I'm done with Apple Music after trying it for 2 months. I download spoken tracks from websites I buy from, which isn't available on Apple Music - and I can't sync to my iPhone from my iTunes because I have iCloud music library enabled. The spoken tracks I download are MP3 and as a result I can't upload to the cloud. Severe oversight, and I can't find a viable solution. I tried one solution which is turn off iCloud music library, perform my sync, and then turn back on. But when I turn it back on the items I sync delete. If I keep it off, the playlists I create are not synced between my iPhone and iTunes. Back to Spotify I go. I'm really starting to despise iTunes.

 

[Vjosullivan]

It's not a race and it should never be.

Unless, Apple are winning, of course.