Spotify Loses Number One Spot in The US to Apple Music
- An industry source revealed that Apple Music has overtaken Spotify in the United States.
- Many industry analysts predicted that Apple will overtake other popular music streaming services going by the rapid subscriber growth the tech giant was experiencing.
- The increase in subscriber count is partly owed to the new Apple HomePod and the company’s successful run of recent launches including the iPhone X and $329 iPad.
A US distributor from the music streaming industry revealed that Apple Music has taken the lead ahead of Spotify in terms of subscriber count. The source who chose to remain anonymous revealed that Apple Music has crossed the 20 million subscriber count mark in the United States. The exact figure was not revealed by the source due to confidentiality reasons.
One of the biggest drivers of Apple Music’s success is the release of the Apple HomePod, which has multiple features designed for the streaming service. Apple’s recent iPhone X and $329 iPad have also been extremely successful, which come with Apple Music built in. Apple is also reported to release a subscription bundle that will offer News, TV and Music services at a competitive price which can draw in more users.
The Wall Street Journal revealed in February that Apple was experiencing a solid 5% rate of growth compared to Spotify’s 2%. Analysts had predicted that Apple’s music streaming service would overtake its competitors due to the promising growth rate. Apple’s service also managed to surpass its own single-day streaming record, by raking in 170 million streams for Drake’s latest album Scorpion. The company managed to achieve the feat despite having 120 million fewer subscribers than Spotify globally at the time.
Unlike Spotify which has a free ad-based plan along with its own Spotify Premium subscription plan that is ad-free, Apple Music has a paid model only. Users can, however, access a three-month trial at no cost. Industry experts revealed that the music streaming service has contributed positively to Apple’s earnings since its release. Apple’s services alone raked in $9.1 billion in revenue in Q2 2018, which is 31% higher than last year.
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