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Apple Music is set to surpass Spotify in paid US subscribers this summer

Apple Music is set to surpass Spotify in paid US subscribers this summer

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Apple now has 36 million paying subscribers

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Apple Music hands-on

Earlier this year, Spotify announced that it had 70 million paying subscribers, reaffirming its place as the number one streaming service in the world, with Apple Music a distant second with 30 million as of September last year. In a new report in The Wall Street Journal, it appears that Apple is gaining subscribers at a higher rate in the United States, and will surpass Spotify for the number one spot this summer.

Globally, Spotify remains ahead, but Apple is growing at a higher rate in the US — five percent a month verses Spotify’s two percent per month. The US is the largest market for music streaming with 30 million paying subscribers, and Apple’s growth there means that it’s becoming a serious challenger to Spotify. Globally, Apple tells the WSJ that it now has 36 million subscribers.

The WSJ says that Apple’s growth has been fueled in part by its devices in the hands of consumers, and with the release of its $349 HomePod speaker system next week, it will have another outlet through which customers can listen.

In the last couple of years, streaming has become the dominant means through which people consume their music, with 62 percent of revenue coming from services like Spotify and Apple Music.