Apple Music reaches 60 million paying users, but is still behind Spotify

Apple Music has just achieved 60 million service subscribers, all paying, and it was disclosed by Eddy Cue, vice president of the Cupertino company's Internet Software and Services division. With the Numerama website, the manager verified the new amount, demonstrating himself highly satisfied with the achieved consequence. The firm is also working with the official Beats 1 radio, which has tens of millions of listeners, to enhance the service's user experience along all the supported platforms.

However, it is not evident, and it would be very interesting to understand how many of the 60 million paying customers are using the service outside the Apple environment: "I understand the figures," said Cue during the interview. "But I can't reveal them." However, the manager pointed out that Apple Music is the most widely used music streaming service in the Apple ecosystem, which is not surprising given the hate shown by Spotify's top management against Apple's alleged anti-competitive practices on its own platforms.

Cue also addressed the removal of the standalone version of iTunes in favor of distinct TV, Music and Podcast applications with the French website: the business stays connected to iTunes, the American executive said, but "Apple Music is totally better from all points of perspective." Cue then went on to say that Apple now has "better service, and staying in the past is pointless." Apple Music had 56 million subscribers and paid customers in November, with the amount increasing slowly.

This is, however, a considerably smaller number of customers than Spotify, which in April had about 100 million Premium customers. The scenario in the United States is slightly distinct, given that in the first months of 2019, Apple Music had already passed the European service. In America, Apple Music has about 28 million paying customers, while with a calculation of about 26 million Premium users, Spotify is slightly behind.