Surprise! Spotify now says its Weeknd debut beat out Apple Music

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in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV
Spotify on Wednesday issued an update regarding streaming figures related to The Weeknd's new album "My Dear Melancholy," saying it beat Apple Music's debut of the same record by 3 million streams.


Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek. | Source: Spotify


On Tuesday, The Verge, citing statistics from Republic Records, reported My Dear Melancholy netted 26 million streams in its first 24 hours of availability on Apple Music, with lead single "Call Out My Name" pulling in an additional 6 million streams. The performance almost doubled that of Spotify, which eked out 3.5 million streams over the same time period.

Today, however, Spotify informed the publication that initial numbers provided to Republic were incorrect to the tune of 4 million streams.

"The Weeknd's EP My Dear Melancholy, received nearly 29 million Spotify streams within the first 24 hours of release, while the single "Call Out My Name" received 7.5 million streams within the first 24 hours of release," a spokesperson told The Verge. "These numbers do not include streams of two videos for songs from the EP that can only be found on Spotify."

When seeking confirmation from Republic, the publication said The Weeknd's record label offered yet another number -- 6.5 million streams over 24 hours -- that appears to jibe with Spotify's own global charts. The extra million streams are as yet unaccounted for.

The update comes just hours after Apple Music announced reaching a watershed 40 million subscriber count. While a far cry from Spotify's massive numbers, 71 million paying subscribers and 159 million active users, Apple Music is slowly creeping up on the market leader that went public on Tuesday.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 29
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    That they even have to say that when beating Apple Music should be easy with 4 times more "users" is just a joke.

    When you are explaining, you are losing.

    lkrupptmayTARHEELBRANDradarthekatchasmapplesauce007sully54mavemufcairnerdGG1
  • Reply 2 of 29
    Do these numbers even matter? What is important about the number of streams a particular service provided of a particular song? Isn’t the real concern the number of (paying) subscribers?
    TARHEELBRANDstukecornchipwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 29
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    foggyhill said:
    That they even have to say that when beating Apple Music should be easy with 4 times more "users" is just a joke.

    When you are explaining, you are losing.

    Well, Spotify just completed their IPO so they’re pounding their chests a bit. However, by comparing themselves to Apple it sure sounds like they feel Apple’s breath bearing down on their necks. Whistling past the graveyard some might say and the graveyard is littered with the corpses of onetime Apple killers.
    Muntzcornchipwatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 4 of 29
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member

    Do these numbers even matter? What is important about the number of streams a particular service provided of a particular song? Isn’t the real concern the number of (paying) subscribers?
    Yeah, it’s like Android fanboys crowing about their 8 core Snapdragons even though the A11 blows it away.
    TARHEELBRANDmagman1979cornchipwatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 5 of 29
    bitmodbitmod Posts: 267member
    Do these numbers even matter? What is important about the number of streams a particular service provided of a particular song? Isn’t the real concern the number of (paying) subscribers?
    I think it's speaking to which service is more profitable for the artist / recording company. 
    As artists look for more 'exclusive' releases etc... 


    cornchip
  • Reply 6 of 29
    Spotify is a joke! I love Apple Music! Apple Music rules! 41 yr old here and me and my 19yr old daughter have been subscribed since day 1!
    Muntzmagman1979watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 29
    As a Swede, I wish Spotify well. But as a hifi nerd, I think Apple Music sounds far better. Among compressed music sources, I’d say Apple Music is the best choice. Spotify’s open source Ogg Vorbis is inferior to Apple Music’s tweak of the licensed AAC+ from the German Fraunhofer Institute. More punch, presence and dynamics with Apple Music.
    lostkiwigilly017Rayz2016GG1hzcdocno42stukemagman1979lightvoxwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 29
    9secondkox29secondkox2 Posts: 2,707member
    So streams of an artist that isn’t so relevant anymore are big news?

    reaching for anything I guess. 
    cornchip
  • Reply 9 of 29
    Apple Music 99% of the subscribers are using the service specifically on an Apple device or through itunes. Spotify, available on all devices and computers.

    To be off my a few million is nothing when you compare the amount of devices a service is available on. 
    cornchipwatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 29
    Spotify? Is that some treatment for teenage Acne? :)
    In other words, this apparent 'my ***** is bigger than your *****' contest between them and Apple Music really has little relevance to the majority of us.

    {don't use any music or video streaming service apart from the odd thing from YouTube}

  • Reply 11 of 29

    Spotify has to now pay The Weeknd out of their own pocket for the magically found 4 million streams?

    I guess that's ok, as long as they can gloat that they are better at their core business than Apple is with one of its services.

    randominternetpersonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 29
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,294member
    I think it's quite telling that Spotify's new claim doesn't even jibe with their own charts, but for the sake of argument let's pretend that Spotify did indeed have 7.5M streams of the single, compared to Apple Music's 6M streams.

    Given that Spotify has many times more users (and double the number of paid users) that should worrying Spotify, not something they'd want to admit.

    And if you remove the people on Spotify (and Apple) who are on the free tier/trial, I would bet that AM made the artist and record company a lot more money than Spotify did (even ignoring that Spotify has a problem paying its due royalties ...).

    I think competition is good and I'm glad the two services are keeping each other on their toes, but the overall long-term picture for Spotify is not, at present, looking good. It hasn't found a reliable revenue stream, it doesn't pay all its bills, it hasn't been able to convert most of its free tier to paid tier (which is why Apple Music is growing faster than Spotify). That's a problem.
    sully54docno42magman1979watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 29
    applesauce007applesauce007 Posts: 1,698member
    Apple music now has 40 million paid subscribers vs Spotify's 71 million.

    Apple is gaining on them.
    magman1979cornchipwatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 29
    Gelardi8000Gelardi8000 Posts: 1unconfirmed, member
    hm, mine is bigger than yours...even though I'm a Spotify fan this is childish. TBH i tried Apple Music but IMO its not user friendly. Spotify is just spot on.
  • Reply 15 of 29
    Considering Apple pays almost double of what Spotify does, the real story here is this:

    Profits from first 24 hours:
    AppleMusic 23M = 161’000$
    Spotify 29M = 116’000$

    So the difference in payput between Apple Music and Spotify in ONE day, amounts to a Brand new car.

    f@@k Spotify and their horrible business model for artists.
    GG1magman1979lightvoxwatto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 29
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    foggyhill said:
    That they even have to say that when beating Apple Music should be easy with 4 times more "users" is just a joke.

    When you are explaining, you are losing.
    You're blaming them, but the ones who started it?
  • Reply 17 of 29
    LatkoLatko Posts: 398member
    Apple music now has 40 million paid subscribers vs Spotify's 71 million.

    Apple is gaining on them.

    Wow, 2...3% of their installed base. Stellar. 
    edited April 2018 anantksundaramwatto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 29
    Anyone else see the irony in the comments here? If any report or publication criticises Apple, people call for Apple to correct them and set them straight. Suddenly when a report puts Apple ahead, only for Spotify to correct it, it's a negative thing? :confused: 
  • Reply 19 of 29
    mavemufcmavemufc Posts: 326member
    So streams of an artist that isn’t so relevant anymore are big news?

    reaching for anything I guess. 
    The Weeknd is definitely relevant.
  • Reply 20 of 29
    airnerdairnerd Posts: 693member
    Could I listen to it on Spotify without paying for Spotify service?  Because I know everyone listing on Apple Music paid to listen to it.  
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