Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Apple Music now has 20 million paying subscribers, half that of Spotify

apple music 20 million now has paying subscribers half that of spotify main
Image used with permission by copyright holder
The players battling it out in the music streaming space show no sign of calling a ceasefire, with the fight to win new subscribers as fierce as it’s ever been.

On the same day that Pandora announced the imminent launch of its long-awaited on-demand offering, Apple let it be known that its service, which launched in June last year, now has just over 20 million paying subscribers, up from 17 million three months ago.

Recommended Videos

Apple Music is available in more than 100 countries, with more than half of its subscribers based outside of the U.S. in huge markets such as Japan, China, Russia, and Brazil.

But Spotify still leads in terms of paying subscribers after announcing in September it has a colossal 40 million users willing to fork out $10 a month for the service. Impressively, it picked up 10 million new paying users in the six months from March, suggesting Apple has some serious work to do if it wants to catch its biggest rival.

Speaking about his own service, Apple executive Eddy Cue told Billboard this week that it’s been “quite a year” for Apple Music. Despite feeling positive about the way the service is increasing its numbers, Cue confirmed there’s still plenty to fight for within the sector. “We can’t forget that, as an industry, we still have very few music subscribers,” the executive said. “There are billions of people listening to music and we haven’t even hit 100 million subscribers. There’s a lot of growth opportunity.”

With that in mind, reports surfaced last month that the tech giant was looking to secure more Apple Music sign-ups by reducing the cost of its individual plan from $10 to $8, and its family plan from $15 to $13. The new rates were reportedly set to roll out by Christmas, though up to now there’s been no official word on such a deal.

It’s certainly a busy time for the music streaming space. Aside from Pandora’s announcement this week, Amazon recently launched Music Unlimited offering music fans access to tens of millions of tracks, curated playlists, and personalized radio stations. The new service costs $8 a month for Prime members and $10 a month for non-members. Owners of Amazon’s Echo speaker can use the service for the rock-bottom monthly fee of $4.

As for whether the music streaming town is big enough for the lot of them, Cue returned to his earlier theme, commenting that if the services are persuading “more people to pay and buy music then that’s a good thing for all of us.” He just hopes the bulk of them end up settling with Apple Music.

Start your free Apple Music trial

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Apple quietly retires one of its Apple Music tiers
Apple Music plan with HomePod Mini and AirPods.

Apple is retiring its Voice plan for Apple Music that lets people use Siri to select tracks for $5 a month -- less than half the cost of the regular plan.

The tech giant introduced its most affordable Apple Music plan in 2021 but on Wednesday said in a message on its website that it’s ending the ability to sign up to it with immediate effect.

Read more
No, you can’t use an Apple gift card on Apple Pay
Photo of Apple gift cards.

A viral TikTok has made the internet rounds, showing a person who thought that they could transfer Apple gift card funds to Apple Pay. After buying a $300 Apple gift card, however, they quickly learned that that's simply not possible. While their choice might seem misguided in hindsight, there are plenty of people who have been left confused about the differences between Apple gift cards and Apple Pay.

While having a $300 Apple gift card certainly has its uses — such as buying 10 years of Apple Music, as the original poster jokingly pointed out — it's certainly not the same as having that same money to spend freely with Apple Pay. To avoid making the same mistake as this TikTok user, make sure that you understand the distinctions between the two Apple services, as it might just save you $300 (or more).
You cannot add Apple gift cards to Apple Pay

Read more
A long-awaited Apple Pay feature is finally on your iPhone
Apple Pay Later

Apple announced Apple Pay Later last year when it revealed iOS 16 at WWDC 2022. The feature is finally rolling out to “randomly selected users” as of today, through a prerelease version of Apple Pay Later in the Wallet app. Those who have access to this prerelease version should have received an email to their Apple ID account, and they will need iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4.

This is a prerelease version of Apple Pay Later, and the full service will be rolling out to eligible iPhone users older than 18 in the U.S. in the “coming months.”

Read more