The number of Apple Music paid subscribers have overtaken Spotify in the U.S., with the former reaching 28 million as of February (via Wall Street Journal-paywall).
[Apple Music Subscription Prices Cut in India]
Paid U.S. Subscribers
As of February, Apple Music reached 28 million paid subscribers, while Spotify had 26 million. This is fairly impressive since Apple Music doesn’t have a free tier, while Spotify does (and accounts for most of its subscribed base). Note that neither company breaks down the numbers by region, and these numbers also don’t include people using trial offers.
Some analysts expected Apple to reach this number six months ago. However, Spotify doubled down with promotions like the Hulu + Spotify subscription bundle.
Things are very different globally. Worldwide Spotify has a total of 207 million active users, 96 million of which are paying or in a trial period. In contrast, Apple Music has over 50 million worldwide subscribers. But Apple Music is growing globally faster, at a rate of 2.4% to 2.8%, compared to Spotify’s 2% to 2.3%.
[Time For a Spotify-Apple ‘Conscious Uncoupling’]
That is not weird. Spotify’s free service can fulfill many people’s needs. And it is easy to find the substitution of Spotify Premium. For example, now I listen to Spotify Music offline via using DRmare Spotify Music Converter. But you can’t do this with Apple Music.