Spotify Grows to 108M Paid Subscribers Compared to Apple Music's 60M

[MacRumors]

Spotify today announced that it has grown to 108 million paid subscribers globally as of June 30, 2019. That number is an increase from 100 million paid subscribers, which the company reported in April.

In total, there are 232 million monthly active users on Spotify, including the ones on the free version of Spotify. This is an increase of 29 percent year-over-year.

Comparatively, Apple Music was reported in June to have 60 million paid subscribers. Despite the difference in paid subscriber counts, Apple Music in early 2019 reportedly surpassed Spotify's paid subscriber total in the United States. Apple Music at the time had somewhere around 28 million U.S. subscribers, compared to Spotify's 26 million.

Spotify now predicts that it might have as many as 125 million paid subscribers by the end of Q4 2019.

Article Link: Spotify Grows to 108M Paid Subscribers Compared to Apple Music's 60M

 

[ipedro]

Spotify had a multi year lead and is the primary choice of customers hundreds of Android phones while Apple Music is sold primarily to people on iPhones. Apple Music is doing phenomenal by that metic. Not bad at all.

I think that Apple Music has positioned itself to take the lead in the near term. If my prediction is correct and there’s an + one subscription for Music and TV, then AppleTV+ will help push AppleMusic over Spotify. While Spotify focuses on podcasts and doesn’t have the resources to produce TV, Apple will have top tier TV productions for their subscribers.

 

[jcshas]

I wonder if Spotify’s “paid-subscriber” metric includes those who sign up for a free trial, or are they considered non-paid subscribers?

 

[taptic]

Spotify had a multi year lead and is the primary choice of customers hundreds of Android phones while Apple Music is sold primarily to people on iPhones. Apple Music is doing phenomenal by that metic. Not bad at all.

Apple music was introduced in 2015. In the first three months of 2016, they sold over 50 million iPhones. They've sold more since. And for how hard they advertise a subscription to new users, I think their subscriber count is pretty mediocre.

 

[apolloa]

Spotify had a multi year lead and is the primary choice of customers hundreds of Android phones while Apple Music is sold primarily to people on iPhones. Apple Music is doing phenomenal by that metic. Not bad at all.

I think that Apple Music has positioned itself to take the lead in the near term. If my prediction is correct and there’s an + one subscription for Music and TV, then AppleTV+ will help push AppleMusic over Spotify. While Spotify focuses on podcasts and doesn’t have the resources to produce TV, Apple will have top tier TV productions for their subscribers.

Apple Music IS also available on Android so your argument is moot on that point.
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I wonder if Spotify’s “paid-subscriber” metric includes those who sign up for a free trial, or are they considered non-paid subscribers?

Well considering the words ‘paid subscribers’ are mentioned several times in this story I’d take it that it means paid subscribers?

 

[JosephAW]

One of the reason I like Spotify is because the app is separate from the operating system. I can download music and create playlists without any cloud support.
Also they support older iOS devices and macOS all the way back to PowerPC.

Apple Music requires iCloud music to download and create playlists. That's fine as long as you don't have any music or playlists in iTunes. If you have nested playlists folders iCloud music removes them and places the folders back into the root directory messing up your custom settings.
My friend has gigabytes of custom music and copywrite music and it was trying to upload all that to his iCloud account. He had to turn iCloud music off and restore his iPhone from a backup to restore his playlists. So now he just streams from Apple Music, that's all.

 

[Ludatyk]

Apple Music IS also available on Android so your argument is moot on that point.

I think he’s making a point that AppleMusic is highly advertised on Apple devices compared to Android, I don’t think he’s indicating that it’s not on Android platform.

 

[heov]

212 million active users? That's a hell of a userbase, whether they're making money or not.
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I wonder if Spotify’s “paid-subscriber” metric includes those who sign up for a free trial, or are they considered non-paid subscribers?

Do you not wonder this about Apple music, or do you know they don't include it?

 

[Rommelnoodles]

Good. Maybe they'll finally stop complaining about Apple ”unfair practices”.

 

[Stevez67]

108M paid subscribers and they still teeter on the edge of profitability?

 

[Appleman3546]

Only 30 million of those 108 million are USA paid subscribers! That just shows how important the international markets are to Spotify (where android is far more prevailing and pricing can compete without an Apple cut). Half of Apple’s subscribers are in the USA, where the iPhone is more prevalent than other markets

 

[Tazadrt]

A gap of 48 million between Apple music and Spotify.

Last year this time the gap was 43 million.

So the gap is growing

But you know, rather then report that, let’s fudge it and just talk about how Apple has a larger market share in the US.

 

[Sethal]

I like Apple Music because it’s familiar and easy to use with my other Apple Devices, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that their constant barrage of R&B/HipHop or rather “Rap Life” down my throat is pushing me away.

To my knowledge on Spotify you can block out entire genres or artist from playing or showing up and that’s intriguing me to give them a shot and leave Apple Music.

I know many will argue that it’s the most popular genre and blah blah. I know, I get that. But it’s not for me, and that’s okay. What I like might not be for you, and that’s okay too. I should be able to hit browse and only see what actually interests me without having to click through genres, artist, or whatever.

Show us whats popular with the genres we like, not what you think we should like or that Spotify number will continue to grow.

 

[realtuner]

Good. Maybe they'll finally stop complaining about Apple ”unfair practices”.

Daniel Ek will never stop complaining. Biggest whiner (and liar) in tech.

 

[jezbd1997]

One of the reason I like Spotify is because the app is separate from the operating system. I can download music and create playlists without any cloud support.
Also they support older iOS devices and macOS all the way back to PowerPC.

Apple Music requires iCloud music to download and create playlists. That's fine as long as you don't have any music or playlists in iTunes. If you have nested playlists folders iCloud music removes them and places the folders back into the root directory messing up your custom settings.
My friend has gigabytes of custom music and copywrite music and it was trying to upload all that to his iCloud account. He had to turn iCloud music off and restore his iPhone from a backup to restore his playlists. So now he just streams from Apple Music, that's all.

I agree totally here. One of the reasons I dropped Apple Music so quickly was because it basically forces a full cloud+local database at the same time. So my local stuff with custom naming/artwork etc was messed around with...
Spotify being cloud only (and you can choose specifically the albums or playlists you want to save for offline) just works perfectly.
Apple Music was a disaster.

 

[Remy149]

One of the reason I like Spotify is because the app is separate from the operating system. I can download music and create playlists without any cloud support.
Also they support older iOS devices and macOS all the way back to PowerPC.

Apple Music requires iCloud music to download and create playlists. That's fine as long as you don't have any music or playlists in iTunes. If you have nested playlists folders iCloud music removes them and places the folders back into the root directory messing up your custom settings.
My friend has gigabytes of custom music and copywrite music and it was trying to upload all that to his iCloud account. He had to turn iCloud music off and restore his iPhone from a backup to restore his playlists. So now he just streams from Apple Music, that's all.

Apple Music being integrated into my pre-existing iTunes library was its best selling point for me. I used to use iTunes Match and love having access to all my music and playlists I’ve been listening to for years. For me I don’t see the post of having separate music libraries

 

[Plutonius]

108M paid subscribers and they still teeter on the edge of profitability?

Apple Music is a small part of Apple's revenue stream while Spotify Music is 100% of Spotify's revenue stream.

I don't subscribe to either but I believe that Spotify needs to be bought out by someone in the future in order to survive in the long term.

 

[jezbd1997]

Apple Music being integrated into my pre-existing iTunes library was its best selling point for me. I used to use iTunes Match and love having access to all my music and playlists I’ve been listening to for years. For me I don’t see the post of having separate music libraries

That is unless it messes with your library and changes artwork and original files... disaster for me

 

[Saturnine]

I’m not going to say that one service is better than the other because it’s purely subjective and really doesn’t matter.

I’ve tried Apple Music a few times since its launch (including this month) but I always end up going back to Spotify. I just find it a bit quicker and that it does a better job of serving up suggestions which suit my tastes. Your experience may vary!

When it comes to any streaming service, or indeed any product or service, I’m not precious. I’ll use the one that offers me the one that offers me the most bang for my buck. I’m always ready to jump ship when the status quo changes though!

 

[Herrpod]

As long as Spotify is the only choice to play in the background on Playstation/Xbox and Apple's apps continue to be mediocre at best, I'll be sticking with Spotify.

 

[Ludatyk]

When it comes to any streaming service, or indeed any product or service, I’m not precious. I’ll use the one that offers me the one that offers me the most bang for my buck. I’m always ready to jump ship when the status quo changes though!

That’s my thoughts exactly. I pay 15 bucks on the family plan with AppleMusic. It has served me well, I initially started on the iTunes Match... 25 bucks nearly to upload my Music Library was awesome at the time.

I dabbled in Spotify, but its the ease of use... being familiar with Apple software, keeps me on AppleMusic. But I understand people have their preference, I don’t feel it’s worth it to argue with people on their streaming choice.

 

[malexandria22]

Been a Spotify User for 7 yrs. Love them. Their interface is easy and their user based playlists are 2nd to none. I can always find a playlist for any mood I’m in. Even weird obscure things. I watch Happy Days and boom there’s a Happy Days Playlist.

I LOATHE Apple Music. Itunes Match destroyed my music library twice! When i tried Apple Music it did it Again! What’s worse it REPLACED my DRM free music which I PAID apple to remove yrs ago with DRM because whenever you downloaded music it Overwrote my own personal music. My music collection is so destroyed I basically no longer have a Collection thanks to Apple!

Just one of the many reasons I’m getting out of this severely broken “eco-system” in the fall.

 

[Ludatyk]

As long as Spotify is the only choice to play in the background on Playstation/Xbox and Apple's apps continue to be mediocre at best, I'll be sticking with Spotify.

Yeah, I’m highly disappointed by that. And I’m surprised that Google hasn’t even tried to push YT Music for PlayStation/Xbox.

I’m sure Spotify is getting plenty of subscribers from the gaming community due to no competition.

 

[malexandria22]

Been a Spotify User for 7 yrs. Love them. Their interface is easy and their user based playlists are 2nd to none. I can always find a playlist for any mood I’m in. Even weird obscure things. I watch Happy Days and boom there’s a Happy Days Playlist.

I LOATHE Apple Music. Itunes Match destroyed my music library twice! When i tried Apple Music it did it Again! What’s worse it REPLACED my DRM free music which I PAID apple to remove yrs ago with DRM because whenever you downloaded music it Overwrote my own personal music. My music collection is so destroyed I basically no longer have a Collection thanks to Apple!

Just one of the many reasons I’m getting out of this severely broken “eco-system” in the fall.

Don’t even get me started on how truly awful iTunes is for Albums. I can’t even listen to most Albums I purchase on ITunes on as Albums because it STILL mislables everything. I have to create a playlist to listen to a purchased album as a whole unit. What kind of nonsense is that?

 

[Herrpod]

Yeah, I’m highly disappointed by that. And I’m surprised that Google hasn’t even tried to push YT Music for PlayStation/Xbox.

I’m sure Spotify is getting plenty of subscribers from the gaming community due to no competition.

Yep, at first I didn't think it would be a big deal, but after using it a few times I realized how much I love having music playing in the background. I wonder if Spotify quietly paid MS and Sony for exclusivity on their platforms. If not, Apple should get on that ASAP.