Apple Music surpasses Spotify in the U.S.

[DrMacintosh]

In the United States Apple Music has had impressive growth numbers and has officially surpassed Spotify in the number of paid subscribers in the United States. 

Quote

In February, there were 28 million Apple Music subscribers in the United States, compared to Spotify’s 26 million, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

 

Despite this, Spotify does have more users worldwide. Though this may change as Apple continues to expand Apple Music to more and more devices like Amazon Eco and Fire devices.

 

Of note is that Apple Music has not come even close to the amount of Spotify users that use the free version of the service. 

Quote

The shoe is on the other foot globally. Spotify has 96 million total paid subscribers, either already paying a monthly fee or in a trial period. Apple has 50 million.

 

There are another 111 million users of Spotify’s free, ad-supported service. There’s no Apple Music equivalent of this.

Apple is now becoming a services company as users choose to hold onto their iPhones and other Apple devices for longer. This is exacerbated by the fact that Apple puts powerful SoCs in their devices and support them for up to 5 years from the date of purchase. 

 

The need for Apple to dominate the services market is apparent and it would appear that they are succeeding. 

 

Sources: https://www.cultofmac.com/617582/apple-music-spotify-paid-subscribers/

 

[21rkosta]

I don't get why people don't do youtube red/google music more often. Its cheaper than most of these services and also offers youtube red not just music

[jiyeon]

3 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Apple is now becoming a services company as users choose to hold onto their iPhones and other Apple devices for longer. This is exacerbated by the fact that Apple puts powerful SoCs in their devices and support them for up to 5 years from the date of purchase. 

 

The need for Apple to dominate the services market is apparent and it would appear that they are succeeding. 

I'm one of these users, recently dug out my old iPhone 6s because I missed iOS and was presented with an iOS 12.2 upgrade upon waking up my iPhone again.

 

I used Apple Music for 6 months because my carrier gave me 6 months free Apple Music, the UI was excellent back then. I'm still a Spotify user though, as Spotify has integration between my devices including my Chromecast. I don't have enough Apple products to make full use of Apple Music.

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, 21rkosta said:

I don't get why people don't do youtube red/google music more often

Apple Music and Spotify get a lot more deals with labels than Google does. If the library of content is important, which it is to most people, Services like Apple Music and Spotify are no brainers. 

[Java]

For me I think Spotify is a better deal since now you can get Hulu for free (without having to be a student). 

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, Java said:

For me I think Spotify is a better deal since now you can get Hulu for free (without having to be a student). 

My carrier (Sprint) gives us Hulu with our Unlimited plan. Lol 

[Java]

1 minute ago, DrMacintosh said:

My carrier (Sprint) gives us Hulu with our Unlimited plan. Lol 

Neat, but for people that don't have it included this is a nice bonus. 

[poochyena]

I don't understand the appeal of music streaming sites. Its $120 a year is a huge amount of money for music you don't even own. You could buy around 100 songs for that cost. Not to mention it using up data and not being able to listen to music without internet access (which is common for me when driving in rural areas).

To people who prefer to stream than to buy; why?

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, poochyena said:

Not to mention it using up data and not being able to listen to music without internet access (which is common for me when driving in rural areas).

You are aware that services like Apple Music and Spotify let you dave songs locally right? 

[poochyena]

1 minute ago, DrMacintosh said:

You are aware that services like Apple Music and Spotify let you save songs locally right? 

even after you cancel your subscription?

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, poochyena said:

even after you cancel your subscription?

No because if you wanted that you should have bought the tracks. 

[poochyena]

Just now, DrMacintosh said:

No because if you wanted that you should have bought the tracks. 

right, so you can spend over $100 in a year, but not even keep the songs. Why do that when you can spend $100 and actually keep all your songs?

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, poochyena said:

right, so you can spend over $100 in a year, but not even keep the songs. Why do that when you can spend $100 and actually keep all your songs?

Because not everyone wants to listen to the same tracks over and over. Some people like to branch out and listen to new music. Streaming Services allow for endless discovery and consumption. 

 

If you buy a track, that’s all you get. 

[Mooshi]

38 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

My carrier (Sprint) gives us Hulu with our Unlimited plan. Lol 

Of course the carrier with two cans and a string needs to include someone to get a customer.  

[poochyena]

2 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Because not everyone wants to listen to the same tracks over and over.

100 songs a year isn't "the same tracks over and over". My main playlists have ~170 songs on them total, but I apparently have a total of around 800 songs on my computer. probably ~200 of them were free since they were free mixes on soundcloud, anime opening/closing theme, promo, etc. And since Amazon prime users get $1 off digital music for selecting slow shipping, I have probably only spent around $100 of my money on all those songs total.

[Blade of Grass]

32 minutes ago, poochyena said:

100 songs a year isn't "the same tracks over and over". My main playlists have ~170 songs on them total, but I apparently have a total of around 800 songs on my computer. probably ~200 of them were free since they were free mixes on soundcloud, anime opening/closing theme, promo, etc. And since Amazon prime users get $1 off digital music for selecting slow shipping, I have probably only spent around $100 of my money on all those songs total.

I have over 1500 songs on my iPhone. The savings vs. buying is crazy—I could have 10 years of Apple Music for less money then buying the songs would take. Plus, I’m a university student, so Apple Music is half off. 

[DrMacintosh]

48 minutes ago, Mooshi said:

Of course the carrier with two cans and a string needs to include someone to get a customer.  

I don't think there are even carriers that don't bundle other services with their plans anymore in the US. 

[poochyena]

20 minutes ago, Blade of Grass said:

I have over 1500 songs on my iPhone. The savings vs. buying is crazy—I could have 10 years of Apple Music for less money then buying the songs would take.

Like I said in my post, I only spent around $100 or so on my ~800 songs. So you can have 1500 songs without having to have paid $1 or $1.29 for each one. Unless you just really like the latest mainstream pop music and buying singles instead of whole albums, and you aren't able to take advantage of any discounts like amazon prime users get.

[DrMacintosh]

5 minutes ago, poochyena said:

So you can have 1500 songs without having to have paid $1 or $1.29 for each one. Unless you just really like the latest mainstream pop music and buying singles instead of whole albums, and you aren't able to take advantage of any discounts like amazon prime users get.

No matter how you slice it, if you want to consolidate your library and save the most money while maximizing the types and number of songs you listen to.....you get Apple Music or Spotify. 

[schwellmo92]

I use Apple Music because my Apple Watch wasn’t playing nice with Spotify and my new Sony headphones support AAC audio codec which Apple Music is encoded to. I honestly preferred Spotify, the Apple Music radio is absolute trash it keeps mixing in country songs when I start a hip-hop radio.. the UX is also worse.

[poochyena]

32 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

No matter how you slice it, if you want to consolidate your library and save the most money while maximizing the types and number of songs you listen to.....you get Apple Music or Spotify. 

Why do you think this? Streaming costs way more money long term. In 10 years, that $1,200. I have music that I listen to regularly that I bought 10 years ago. The ONLY way it makes sense financially is if you would otherwise consistently spend over $120 on music every year for essentially the rest of your life. I doubt I download more than ~50 songs a year, much less spend over $50 on music per year.

[D13H4RD]

I still use Spotify because it's baked into my carrier's monthly payment plan. 

[PlayStation 2]

3 hours ago, 21rkosta said:

I don't get why people don't do youtube red/google music more often. Its cheaper than most of these services and also offers youtube red not just music

For me, it's one very simple answer: because I don't want to listen to 128kbps AAC audio files through YouTube.

I'm not necessarily a person who's like "fLaC oR nOtHiNg REEEEEEE", but I'd prefer something a little better quality than what YouTube forces iPhones to use.

[schwellmo92]

17 minutes ago, poochyena said:

Why do you think this? Streaming costs way more money long term. In 10 years, that $1,200. I have music that I listen to regularly that I bought 10 years ago. The ONLY way it makes sense financially is if you would otherwise consistently spend over $120 on music every year for essentially the rest of your life. I doubt I download more than ~50 songs a year, much less spend over $50 on music per year.

I wouldn’t spend $120 on buying music each year because my library would be tiny. I’m happy to pay $120 a year for access to pretty much any music that exists. I would’ve listened to 1000+ songs easily so far this year already, a lot of my top songs at the moment aren’t ones I would usually buy either, I just stumble on them because you can do that with a streaming service.

 

Can I ask, do you not use any video streaming platforms (Netflix, Prime, etc)?

[ryao]

2 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

Because not everyone wants to listen to the same tracks over and over. Some people like to branch out and listen to new music. Streaming Services allow for endless discovery and consumption. 

 

If you buy a track, that’s all you get. 

 

I like to listen to the same tracks over and over. Still, with Amazon Music being included for free with amazon prime, I sometimes steam music.