Apple Music hits landmark 40 million paid subscribers

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited April 2018
Apple Music has swelled to 40 million subscribers, according to a Tweet noting the occasion by the company's content director in France, Steven Huon.




The number has grown by more than two million versus what Senior Vice President Eddy Cue noted at the SXSW interview about two weeks ago. While neither Huon's or Cue's numbers are dated or precise, the expansion suggests that Apple Music growth rates are either still good, or climbing month-over-month.



Cue revealed his Apple Music figures during an onstage interview at the South by Southwest festival, saying the service recently gained two million new subscribers in a little over one month.

Cue added another 8 million are currently listening to Apple Music on a trial basis. The Apple Music chief added that there are about two billion people in the world who could be subscribers of Apple Music, Spotify or some other streaming service with more than half a billion customers accessing the App Store every week, all of whom are ripe for subscription.

"The real opportunity for music -- and it's not about Spotify or us or the labels, it's about artists -- is how do they get their music to everyone around the world and how do they get compensated for that," Cue said. "We both have to grow by significant amounts in order to get to the numbers which it should."

Apple Music recently greatly expanded with a Music Videos section, initially announced as part of iOS 11.3, alongside a number of other updates.

Appearing in the Browse tab of the Apple Music tab, the Music Videos section highlights some of the video content produced to accompany songs streamable on the service. The section aims to make it easier for subscribers to see videos for their favorite artists, as well as new music videos and those selected by Apple.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 28
    In Bloomberg the other day, the total of all streaming services was less than 40% of the income to labels. We never hear this, but always hear the PR that it is undisputed future of music.
    That 40% would include all services.
    ksec
  • Reply 2 of 28
    FranculesFrancules Posts: 122member
    Awesome!
    MuntzTARHEELBRANDlostkiwi
  • Reply 3 of 28
    clarker99clarker99 Posts: 230member
    I was an iTunes match subcriber. I had 5-6k songs. But I had not purchased a new album since the last time I bought a CD. 5-6yrs. I lost track of new artists and didnt delve into older artisits catalogs bc I didnt want to spend the extra money. Sounds silly really bc I used to buy 2 or 3 CD’s a month. There was something about going to the store and buying the album that I reallly enjoyed. 

    Anyway, I took the 3month trial of Apple Music and I listened to more music than ever before. New and older stuff. I am constantly finding new music and older artists back catalogues which I never would have listened too (let alone purchased) had I stayed on Match. 

    I am now a paid subscriber and wish I had started sooner. It has renewed my love of music. 

    I am sure that I would be happy with Spotify but I am entrenched in the Apple eco-system and it just made sense for me.

    Anyone else have a similar excitement level when switching to a full on streaming service? I have really loved it. 
    MisterKith2pracerhomie3sully54superklotonMuntzequality72521radarthekatRobPalmer9TARHEELBRAND
  • Reply 4 of 28
    I love Apple music! I use it for discovery of new songs and offline playlists for use in the car.

    And they introduced me to Sigrid, I will thank them for the rest of my life!


    mavemufcSoliMuntzRobPalmer9TARHEELBRANDlostkiwiwatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 28
    racerhomie3racerhomie3 Posts: 1,264member
    I am more than satisfied with the Beats 1 Radio.
    MuntzTARHEELBRANDwatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 28
    mavemufcmavemufc Posts: 326member
    Good to see them getting bigger and bigger and hopefully overtake Spotify at some point.
    Muntzh2pRobPalmer9lostkiwiwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 28
    irelandireland Posts: 17,800member

    And they introduced me to Sigrid...
    Music has gone to the dogs. Sigrid is a perfect example of a modern epidemic in people putting on a specific voice to sing. It's like a virus. So many "artists" all sound the same. The emperor has no clothes!!
    edited April 2018
  • Reply 8 of 28
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,038member
    ireland said:

    And they introduced me to Sigrid...
    Music has gone to the dogs. Sigrid is a perfect example of a modern epidemic in people putting on a specific voice to sing. It's like a virus. So many "artists" all sound the same. The emperor has no clothes!!
    A specific voice to sing? Have you heard her speak? Do you think she's using a fake talking voice, too?
    Muntzh2pRayz2016fastasleepwatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 28
    jcs2305jcs2305 Posts: 1,342member
    clarker99 said:
    I was an iTunes match subcriber. I had 5-6k songs. But I had not purchased a new album since the last time I bought a CD. 5-6yrs. I lost track of new artists and didnt delve into older artisits catalogs bc I didnt want to spend the extra money. Sounds silly really bc I used to buy 2 or 3 CD’s a month. There was something about going to the store and buying the album that I reallly enjoyed. 

    Anyway, I took the 3month trial of Apple Music and I listened to more music than ever before. New and older stuff. I am constantly finding new music and older artists back catalogues which I never would have listened too (let alone purchased) had I stayed on Match. 

    I am now a paid subscriber and wish I had started sooner. It has renewed my love of music. 

    I am sure that I would be happy with Spotify but I am entrenched in the Apple eco-system and it just made sense for me.

    Anyone else have a similar excitement level when switching to a full on streaming service? I have really loved it. 
    I agree 100%.. I started off with Match as well with around 14K songs.. :)

    With Apple Music having the ability to see what friends are listening to is fantastic! A have found a lot of new stuff that way as well. 
    Muntzh2pequality72521clarker99TARHEELBRANDlostkiwiwatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 28
    clarker99 said:
    I was an iTunes match subcriber. I had 5-6k songs. But I had not purchased a new album since the last time I bought a CD. 5-6yrs. I lost track of new artists and didnt delve into older artisits catalogs bc I didnt want to spend the extra money. Sounds silly really bc I used to buy 2 or 3 CD’s a month. There was something about going to the store and buying the album that I reallly enjoyed. 

    Anyway, I took the 3month trial of Apple Music and I listened to more music than ever before. New and older stuff. I am constantly finding new music and older artists back catalogues which I never would have listened too (let alone purchased) had I stayed on Match. 

    I am now a paid subscriber and wish I had started sooner. It has renewed my love of music. 

    I am sure that I would be happy with Spotify but I am entrenched in the Apple eco-system and it just made sense for me.

    Anyone else have a similar excitement level when switching to a full on streaming service? I have really loved it. 
    I have a very similiar situation, only difference was I started when it was released. But as you mention, the access to all new types of music has increased my time spent listening to music and has definitely renewed that love! This is the one point I stress to anyone skeptical of the subscription method.

    One thing that you may not have dived full on into yet is adding songs to your library. For whatever reason in the beginning I was stingy at hitting the ‘add to library’ but now that I am over that I tap the (+) button for anything I like. I have found that the 3 music playlists are much better because of it. it’s especially easy if you have an apple watch as the + button is always assessable. 

    On a completely different note, listening to more music has decreased my video watching time. This has lead me to really think about the time economy and how I spend my time. This has made me more appreciative of what apple was attempting to do with their flat fee model (however, I am not sure if they are still pushing for that now that they are entering this space.)
    Muntzclarker99watto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 28
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    I think that Apple are restricted from doing this but I bet reducing to $5 a month would attract 5-10 times as many people. There are certain prices that seem essentially “free” to consumers. $10 doesn’t. $5 does. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 28
    sirlance99sirlance99 Posts: 1,301member
    mavemufc said:
    Good to see them getting bigger and bigger and hopefully overtake Spotify at some point.
    Why? Why does it have to come to that? They both can go-exist together. Just as many, if not more people love Spotify as they do Apple Music. 

    Apple let is awesome but sometimes people like you just have to realize that Apple isn’t always the best or the only choices. 
    h2pdeminsdLukeCageAMC4x4
  • Reply 13 of 28
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,601member
    While I still have reservations about the income an artist earns from streaming versus actual digital song file or (even better) CD sales, the access to “everything” is a huge bonus both for convenience and discovery. I’ve never been much of an Eagles fan, but every now and again I long to hear “Journey of the Sorcerer” (best know as the theme to the Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”) and, thanks to Apple Music, I have it on demand. Anytime I want.

    Friend of mine with great music taste raved to me the other day about the new Simple Minds album “Walk Between Worlds.” Pulled it up on my phone, “add to library,” and I can check it out at my leisure (so far, he’s right about it — best they’ve done in years). I do still buy CDs as “the ultimate backup” every now and then thanks to these new content-rich “super deluxe” type reissues (recently purchases include The Monochrome Set’s “Eligible Bachelors” and Roxy Music’s debut album), and Apple Music has even helped with that thanks to its terrific discovery engine. I’m finding stuff I either barely or never knew about that I enjoy, but for me the “For You” section alone is worth every penny of the (cheaper) yearly subscription I opted for. It’s amazing how well it “gets” my musical tastes.
    edited April 2018 Muntzwatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 28
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,601member
    Based on recent various numbers on how many subscribers AM has, it would seem to be growing at an average of around 1.25-1.5 million per month. That’s the number you want to look at when comparing to Spotify — the latter had a seven-year head start and will be “king of the hill” for a long time to come, methinks. But then, Pandora had a lock on this space at one time ...
    h2pwatto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 28
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    asdasd said:
    I think that Apple are restricted from doing this but I bet reducing to $5 a month would attract 5-10 times as many people. There are certain prices that seem essentially “free” to consumers. $10 doesn’t. $5 does. 
    Who says? You? And it’s the same tired argument about market bottom fishing. Sell a lot for a little but nobody ever made money doing it. The smartphone market should tell you that. Having a lot of subscribers does you no good unless you make money doing it and Spotify isn’t exactly swimming in dough are they. I’d rather do business with a profitable company who I know will be around for awhile. Cheaptards are hilarious.
    potatoleeksoupwatto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 28
    clarker99 said:
    I was an iTunes match subcriber. I had 5-6k songs. But I had not purchased a new album since the last time I bought a CD. 5-6yrs. I lost track of new artists and didnt delve into older artisits catalogs bc I didnt want to spend the extra money. Sounds silly really bc I used to buy 2 or 3 CD’s a month. There was something about going to the store and buying the album that I reallly enjoyed. 

    Anyway, I took the 3month trial of Apple Music and I listened to more music than ever before. New and older stuff. I am constantly finding new music and older artists back catalogues which I never would have listened too (let alone purchased) had I stayed on Match. 

    I am now a paid subscriber and wish I had started sooner. It has renewed my love of music. 

    I am sure that I would be happy with Spotify but I am entrenched in the Apple eco-system and it just made sense for me.

    Anyone else have a similar excitement level when switching to a full on streaming service? I have really loved it. 
    Totally agree and I’d throw in my HomePod purchase sealing the deal. Easy as it was to play the music on my phone or through Apple TV, I didn’t “surf” tracks the same way, bouncing easily to another song as it took my fancy, or just throw on my New Music or Chill mixes. I just throw that at Siri now and away we go. Flippin brilliant. 
    h2pwatto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 28
    clarker99clarker99 Posts: 230member

    Totally agree and I’d throw in my HomePod purchase sealing the deal. Easy as it was to play the music on my phone or through Apple TV, I didn’t “surf” tracks the same way, bouncing easily to another song as it took my fancy, or just throw on my New Music or Chill mixes. I just throw that at Siri now and away we go. Flippin brilliant. 
    Yes, HomePod has increased the value of Apple Music. Very cool seeing my young kids walk up and say ‘play Hey Jude’ or ‘Play the Moana’ soundtrack.

    AirPods have also helped increase my music listening. Prob my fav Apple product since my 1st iPod? I think they are incredible.
    lostkiwiequality72521watto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 28
    deminsddeminsd Posts: 143member
    mavemufc said:
    Good to see them getting bigger and bigger and hopefully overtake Spotify at some point.
    What would that accomplish?  Is there something Spotify is doing that is affecting your Apple Music experience?  Just curious what your end game is here. 
    jfanningasdasd
  • Reply 19 of 28
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    deminsd said:
    mavemufc said:
    Good to see them getting bigger and bigger and hopefully overtake Spotify at some point.
    What would that accomplish?  Is there something Spotify is doing that is affecting your Apple Music experience?  Just curious what your end game is here. 
    Unless you somehow identify with Spotify, YOUR whole tone is off; funny how it goes huh, listen to yourself before talking about people's damn "end-game".

    OVertaking doesn't mean Spotify is bankrupt though it is ending that way regardless of what Apple is doing. So, what are even talking about?

    Overtaking Spotify means more money, means Apple Music is a big success, means Apple is getting back to its place atop the digital music game it had for more than a decade with Itunes.

    It also means people offended by Apple entering into streaming and saying they can't beat X (despite essentially having made the digital music viable with ITunes will STFU). can just STFU about it.

    Oh, I'm a stockholder, so I do have stakes in that game... What are YOUR stakes.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 28
    jdgazjdgaz Posts: 407member
    Love listening to Apple Music via AppleTV. Our 16K photo library is the screensaver. Awesome.  
    watto_cobra
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