In a surprisingly rapid surge, the combined paid subscribers of YouTube's Music and Premium services now hit over 80 million, according to Variety.
While is still way below the 195 million paid subscribers of Spotify, this is a huge jump from the company's 50 million subscribers in September of last year. The whopping 30 million addition to the number is still a remarkable surge.
YouTube is Looking Forward to Driving More Growth
YouTube Music was released in 2015. While it has been in the industry for quite some time, it is still far behind its rivals Apple Music and Spotify, according to Android Police.
The said music streaming platforms are considered as two of the of the most popular streaming services worldwide. Although Google has exerted efforts to increase the platforms subscribers, it seems that YouTube Music is still a work in progress.
However, the record of 80 million paid subscribers is a milestone for the company. It only indicates that its efforts are paying off.
The 30 million additional paid subscribers in a span of one year means that the company is on track to becoming one of the top music streaming platforms worldwide.
According to Lyor Cohen, global head of Music at YouTube and Google, together with their music industry partners, they have been working hard to make YouTube a great platform for every fan and artist.
He added that the record of 80 million subscribers is a significant milestone in the journey that they decided to traverse.
YouTube is not stopping with its current record. The company is looking forward to driving more growth. Likewise, it aims to contribute further to the music industry.
In a statement, Adam Smith, VP Product at YouTube, said that they will continue to provide the best experience across all of YouTube. Likewise, he said that they put people first in the products that they create.
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YouTube Sets a New Milestone But Still Behind Apple Music and Spotify
According to TechCrunch, YouTube paid $6 billion in revenue to the music industry between July 2021 and June 2022, 30 percent of this was from user-generated content.
Subscribers has to pay $9.99 per month for YouTube Music Premium. It lets users download and listen to music without ads.
Just recently, the platform introduced a new iOS 16 Lock Screen widget, "Recently Played." With the new widget, users will be able to quickly access recently played songs, playlists, albums, and videos from their lock screen.
Meanwhile, subscribers can get YouTube Premium for $11.99 per month. It allows subscribers to watch and download ad-free YouTube videos. Likewise, subscribers can access all the perks of YouTube Music.
In October, the company run a short-lived test asking users to upgrade to Premium to be able to watch videos in 4K. The company eventually ended it and now, everyone can watch videos in 4K without having to pay for a Premium subscription.
However, despite the streaming platform's new milestone, it's still behind Apple Music, Spotify, and Tencent in terms of subscribers.
As previously stated, Spotify has a total of 195 million premium subscribers. Meanwhile, it has 456 million monthly active users.
Meanwhile, across the App Store, Apple TV+, Apple Music, as well as its cloud services and other businesses, Apple reported 860 million paid subscriptions.
In addition, across its three music streaming apps, Tencent Music Entertainment Group recorded about 82.7 million subscribers.
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