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Apple Music reportedly approaches half as many paid subscribers as Spotify

Apple Music reportedly approaches half as many paid subscribers as Spotify

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Despite some nagging issues at launch, Apple Music appears to be gaining subscribers at a steady clip. The streaming music service now has over 10 million paid subscribers across the 100-plus countries in which it is available, according to a Financial Times source.

That means Apple's service is in the ballpark of half as many paid subscribers as Spotify, which crossed the 20 million premium subscriber mark in June. Spotify hasn't released updated figures since then, though in a conversation with The Verge, the company's head of PR, Jonathan Prince, notes that "The last half of 2015 was the fastest subscriber growth in Spotify history." Spotify's number of paid subscribers grew by 5 million during the first six months of 2015, so, if Spotify's claim is accurate, the company must now count at least 25 million subscribers. That's impressive growth for Spotify, which appears to have weathered the launch of Apple Music quite well.

Spotify has at least 25 million paid users

Unlike Apple Music, Spotify also has a free tier — all told, the Swedish company has 75 million active users. Apple's last official count indicated 6.5 million paid users back in October. It's been just six months since Apple Music launched in June.

Apple has likely benefitted from its three-month free trial, which, unsurprisingly, will automatically renew unless users are quick enough to cancel. Both Spotify and Apple Music cost $9.99 per month, though iOS users who subscribe to Spotify through iTunes must pay $12.99 monthly to cover Apple's controversial cut of App Store proceeds.

Micah Singleton contributed to this report.

Update, January 10th, 1:52PM ET: Added comment from Spotify.