Spotify steps on a new milestone as the company hits 50 million paid subscribers. This gives the music app a strong lead over its direct rival, the Apple Music. Nevertheless, Spotify did not give an updated data on how many free-version subscribers it currently has.
Spotify's 2017 Statistics
As per Apple Insider, the 50-million subscriber figure shows a 10-million subscriber growth in just a span of five months. Additionally, while Spotify did not directly say how many active users its free version has, fans can just take an estimate out of the company's statistics from June. The source said that during that time, Spotify had more than 100 million users and 30 million of which use the premium version.
Spotify Vs Apple Music
Apple Music reached its 20-million subscriber figure last December. This was roughly 17 months since the service was introduced. Spotify took seven years to get to that same level but that slow growth can be attributed to the fact that this kind of service was still young at the time. As per CNET, Apple's Eddy Cue revealed in February that Apple has hit the 20-million subscriber milestone but he did not disclose the specificities of the statistics.
On-demand Music Services
Spotify and Apple Music share a lot of common features. However, Apple has put in more focus on its exclusives materials. This includes Apple Music's secured rights over Drake's "Views" one week before it appeared on other music services. Additionally, Apple ventures deeper into videos compared to Spotify and the former is currently preparing exclusive shows for its subscibers.
Meanwhile, Spotify is in the process of testing a more premium Hi-Fi tier that would provide its subscribers with lossless audio. This would also match the key selling point of Tidal, the subscription music service owned by Jay Z and other stars. Tidal has gone through some scrutiny due to the company's claim that it reached 3 million members while a record executive said that the figure was actually just less than 850,000.
