Apple Music, which has yet to complete its first month, has acquired more than 10 million subscribers on the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and iTunes, said a report on Monday. Many major unidentified brands associated with music labels offered supposed adoption numbers to HITS Daily Double.
Reality or just a rumor?
The report can’t fully be trusted as the site’s main section itself is called “Rumor Mill,” but for Apple, which enjoys an enormous customer base, hitting such numbers should not come as a surprise. As an example, iOS 8.4 was estimated to have been adopted by at least 40% of compatible devices within a week of its availability.
Apple CEO Tim Cook’s comment during the earnings call last week supports the numbers for the music service. Cook told investors that “millions and millions” have signed up for the service’s three-month free-trial period. But the true picture is still unclear as it remains to be seen if those trial users convert into paid members after the end of the trial period.
The reported numbers are also in line with those of competing streaming services such as Spotify, which enjoys around 20 million paying subscribers. Apple still has to go a long way to catch up to Spotify’s and Pandora’s 75 million and 79.4 million total active users respectively, but unlike rivals which also offer free-to-stream tiers, Apple’s service is purely subscription based.
Apple aiming big with music service
The tech giant is not making streaming numbers public but is showing them to the rights holders, which are apparently amazed by the figure presently. Even though a few rights holders are in favor of publicizing these figures, Eddy Cue will be having the final say on the matter. But revealing the numbers will surely help Apple turn non-believers into believers.
There are rumors of Apple targeting 100 million paid subscribers for its music service. The target is surely ambitious as it will need switchers from other services apart from the new additions. Hitting the target will certainly get tougher now as Amazon has unveiled its music streaming service, Prime Music, in the U.K. The service offers a million songs and hundreds of playlists to Prime members without any additional cost.
On Monday, Apple shares closed down 1.39% at $122.77, and year to date, the stock is up by over 9%.
