From HITS Daily Double:
Apple doesn’t make its streaming numbers public but is showing reports to those rights holders, who have been surprised by how big those figures already are. Some streaming numbers (notably on a couple of cutting-edge hip-hop titles) are actually competitive with Spotify’s. Some rights holders feel Apple should publicize these figures; the decision to do so or not falls to Eddy Cue. But releasing the numbers would likely go a long way toward turning those who don’t yet get it into believers.
10 million subscribers in a month is an impressive number but they are likely mostly unpaid subscribers. Spotify hit 20 million paid subscribers about a month ago. It took Spotify five and a half years to get their first 10 million paid subscribers.
Take all of this with a few grains of salt. First off, it’s a rumor, no matter how believable. Second, we don’t know how many of those subscribers are purely taking a taste of the 3 month free subscription. That number may hold up over time, or it may drop once the paid conversions come due. And, of course, this is a maturing market. Part of the reason Spotify took five and a half years to get their first 10 million paid subscribers is that they were eating that early growth curve, while Apple stepped into an already relatively mature market.
Nonetheless, if true, that is a good sign for Apple Music, despite the early rough going.
UPDATE: Clarified the post with paid vs unpaid subscribers.
[Via 9to5mac]
How is that impressive? It’s completely free and the app ships with every iOS 8.4+ device. Spotify has 20 million paying subscribers and you have to get the app from the app store and if you even pay 30% more if you subscribe within the app.
Nothing impressive here.
I absolutely LOVE Apple Music! I’ve had no issues and have discovered a ton of music! Much better than that swedish Spotify crap.
Streaming is far from a “maturing market”. In fact, globally, it’s still in the nascent stage of adoption.
They’re not subscribers, they’re free trial users. Big difference.
Not really, free trial users will become free tier users. Beats1 and the other radio stations will remain free after the trial. People will stay on that if they were never going to pay in the first place. It was merely to show that the free tier of AM and Spotify were similar enough to try out.
The real big difference is 1 month compared to 5 ½ years. Apple was never going to jump out of the gate with numbers as high as Spotify.
Only Beats 1 radio will remain free, so you can’t really compare that to Spotify’s free tier. But, yes, it’s possible that a lot of people will keep it for Beats 1 radio.
It’s impressive if you think about the fact that only 40% of users are running 8.4 and people still have the option to say no – which many did – unsure about what it was. For the people who said no, until they go into settings and turn it back on they will not be asked again. Spotify had years of word of mouth, not to mention prominent placement in the App store up until recently, not to mention it’s existence on multiple platforms (like the Playstation, the web, native apps and even installed on tvs and home receivers). it’s not like 20M came from the iOS App Store.
It’s only a month old and has made me delete apps I used to use all the time. That’s impressive to me.
It’s not just Beats1, it’s all the stations, and the work just like Spotify’s free tier – limited skips. Plus you can also view and follow artists on connect for those interested.
You don’t need to subscribe to use Beats 1; it’s available just like all iTunes Radio stations have been. So that’s not necessarily a reason to “keep” Apple Music.
You are just comparing Apple radio to Spotify radio. But Spotify has an actual free tier that lets you search an artist or album and listen to it with ads. Apple has opted against such a free tier. Listening to Elton John’s show last night, I can pick an artist he played and play it on Spotify but as a non-subscriber to Apple Music I can only hear it if it happens to come around again on the radio. Stories like this mean absolutely nothing at this point in time other than 10 million people bit at the free trial.
No, I’m not – Apple Radio doesn’t exist on it’s own any more, it’s part of Apple Music. Also, as a Canadian, I have never had Apple Radio in it’s former life. If I turn off Apple music in my settings, radio options are gone as well. To me, that says the radio component is a feature to Music, just like connect is.
I have the free tier of Spotify and if I searched for song it gives me songs like what I was looking for, or playlists it was on, but it was many clicks before I could get to the song I searched for. the only way I can find a song quickly is if I had already set it as a favourite.
So what if it’s a feature of Apple Music? It still doesn’t compare to the free tier of Spotify in any way other than they both have a radio component. Who cares how many clicks it takes to get you to a song on Spotify? Is that going to be worth $10/month to many people? Btw, maybe it’s because I’ve elected not to join Apple Music or maybe it’s a Canadian “feature” but when I turn off Apple Music in Settings I still have Beats 1 and my iTunes Radio stations in the Music app.
I’m a subscriber. Spotify ends this weekend for me.
10 million is a lot of people for sure. But I would have thought something closer to 50 million trying the free 3 month trial by now would have been a much more realistic expectation.
How many (ME) have been turned off trying it due to all the negative reports of stuff ups with music libraries.
I’ve updated iTunes and OS X 8.4, but yet to try Apple Music. My iTunes Match is working perfectly and I’m happy with that. But once I hear they have fixed issues, I’ll try it then.
“Who cares how many clicks it takes to get you to a song on Spotify”
I don’t know… maybe someone using it for the first time and maybe stops short doesn’t realize it’s an option after a few clicks? Apple Music worked for me and my wife. Long time songza and spotify users and we switched. I have never paid for streaming music before and I am now. Also, you don’t need to be an ass with that “Canadian feature” jab, I’m talking about my experience with the product and how it works for me because that is all I can give an opinion on from my perspective. Apple is providing stations for free and that counters on many levels what Spotify does for free. Maybe you have a different experience than I have – very possible – but ease up on the aggressive hyperbole.
“It still doesn’t compare to the free tier of Spotify in any way other than they both have a radio component.”
Like what besides searching for a song and take 8 clicks and hunting for something you search for? Besides that, how does it not compare “in any way?”
You said when you turn AM off in settings radio goes away, it doesn’t for me and I said maybe it’s because I’m not a subscriber or a Canada thing, no need to get all defensive over it.
Last time I will try to explain this. Elton John plays a new track by Shura on his show. I can go to Spotify and by only clicking the menu icon and search button (I don’t know where it takes you 8 clicks to search) bring up her EP and shuffle play it for free. You cannot do this on AM unless you are a subscriber. Once again there is no free tier on AM other than radio.
The numbers during the free trial are meaningless. See how many people stay after 3 months.
40% is still hundreds of millions of users and you have to add sign ups through iTunes on all Mac’s and Windows PCs. Basically the first thing after updating to the new iTunes version was Apple Music popping up on the screen. And then you also have to take all the people who moved from Beats (they had to) to Apple Music.
I don’t want to take any credit away from them and i don’t think the numbers are bad but i don’t think they are impressive either.
Most people I know skipped it because they weren’t sure what it was or if it was going to charge them right away. A few I had a chance to explain what it was when back but most people go for word of mouth before advertising.
I think people expect apple to own a massive chunk of every pie right out of the box every time and for services it’s a bit difficult.