@AppleMusic's 10 mil subs will eclipse @Spotify, @Pandora, @amazonmusic & @GooglePlayMusic by December 2016

“It’s good news that Apple is making streaming work but it is also going to accelerate the decline of downloads”

Music   Industry Analyst with Midia Research Mark Mulligan, commenting on Apple Music growth to 10 million Paid subscribers

Apple is truly on a winning streak in 2016. 

It's been announced that they've reached 10 million paying subscribers just 6 month after launched as reported in the article “Apple’s music streaming subscribers top 10m”, published January 10, 2016 by Matthew Garrahan and Tim Bradshaw, Financial Times.

 

Not surprisingly, this milestone was achieved just 2 months after Apple branched out to Google's Android operating system as reported in the article “Apple Music launches on Android to tap billion-strong new audience”, published Wednesday 11 November 2015 by Stuart Dredge, The UK Guardian. 

What makes this even more amazing is that in October 2015, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that Apple Music has achieved 6 million paid subscribers as reported in my blog article entitled “How Apple Music has 6.5 million Subscribers - Spotify's 20 million subscribers Total Eclipse of the Heart by January 2016”.

In less than three (3) months, Apple Music added on another 4 million subscribers! Amazing, no matter how you look at it!

Apple Music’s 10 million paid Subscribers - Streaming Video and Audio to replace Television and Radio

Apple iTunes Radio, their early attempt at a streaming music service to fight the likes of Pandora, Spotify, Amazon Music and Google Play Music, is no longer free.

It is to become a part of Apple Music as reported in the article “Apple iTunes Radio Is No Longer Going To Be Free”, published January 19, 2016 by Amit Chowdhry, Forbes.

This indicates that Apple is confident about their product and knows people are willing to pay for Streaming music. The Nielsen year-end music report indicates that Music Streaming is on the rise, with 145 billion audio streams in 2015, up 79% percent from 2014.

Audio Streaming will basically replace Radio in much the same way Video Streaming is predicted to replace Television and is a global phenomenon.

Hence the reason why the RJR Communications Group and the Jamaica Gleaner merger occurred, as Streaming affects all of Media as noted in my blog article entitled “Why the Abeng 88.7 FM is the last FM Radio Station as @BCJamaica plans DSO for Radio and Television”.

So how does Apple Music compare to Spotify?

Apple Music beat Spotify - Total Eclipse of their rival in June 2016

Apple Music, which had launched in August 2015 with some 11 million trial subscribers as reported in my blog article entitled “Apple Music 11 Million Trial users – Why 100 million Apple Music Subscribers by 2016 versus @Spotify and @TIDALHiFi beckons”. 

Currently Apple Music has the following Streaming plans:

1.      US$9.99 per month for an Individual plan

2.      US$14.99 per month for a Shared Family Plan (6 people)

3.      24/7 radio station called Beats 1

4.      Connect Social Networking that allows musicians and their fans to meet

Their service recommends songs based on user purchase habits from the following sources:

1.      Apple's iTunes Store

2.      Ripped from CDs

3.      On-demand from their 30 million title online catalog

Their 24/7 radio station called Beats 1 also features Connect, where artists can mix and mingle with fans and give them music promos.

By comparison, London-based music streaming service Spotify has a premium service costs the same as Apple Music in the UK, Australia and the US of A. Their numbers were by far greater than Apple Music being as they had launched on both Apple iPhone and Google Android smartphones:

1.      20 million paid members

2.      75 million who listen for free

Not bad for a service that began as an ill-advised purchase of Beats Audio for US$3.2 Billion in May 2014 as reported in my blog article entitled “Apple officially confirms Beats Audio Purchase - US$3.2 Billion as Apple gears up for Subscription Streaming and improved Headphones”.

Apple, in the space of six months, has achieved a milestone that took Spotify six years to achieve as noted in the article “Apple Music said to have 10M subscribers”, published January 10, 2016 by Steven Musil, CNET. 

Spotify had hit the 10 million mark in June 2014. So at this rate of growth, Apple is expected to pass Spotify by June 2016.