Along with keeping official user numbers under wraps, Apple has refrained from making streaming figures public so far. Reports have been shown to rights holders, though, and HITS Double Daily’s sources revealed that they’ve been surprised by the findings. Apparently, some of the streaming data is competitive with Spotify’s, namely for certain hip-hop titles.
Apple Music’s subscriber numbers — assuming they’re accurate — are extremely impressive. It took Spotify, which launched in October 2008, almost two years to attract 10 million users; the company reached that number in September 2010, according to Wired. Now nearly seven years after its debut, the music streamer has expanded to over 75 million active users and claims more than 20 million subscribers.
Of course, converting users into paying subscribers is another challenge. It was over three years before Spotify grew from from 10 million users to 10 million paying customers (Bloomberg reports that the streamer hit the milestone in May 2014). Apple Music’s numbers look great now, but the question is whether the service can keep the momentum (and its subscribers) once its free trials end.
The news of Apple Music’s ballooning user base comes just days after Pandora CEO Brian McAndrews shared that he didn’t expect “any long-term impact” from the new rival streamer. During a conference call with reporters on July 23, he conceded that there has been “noise in the marketplace,” but he seems to think the early buzz will eventually fizzle.
For its part, Apple Music will continue its marketing push. Leading up the the 2015 Video Music Awards, Apple is expected to hype its streamer with several TV ads.
