Spotify Continues to Grow Faster Than Apple Music Thanks to Free Tier

Spotify today announced it now has over 140 million subscribers worldwide, including users that only listen to the free ad-supported tier.

spotify 140 million
Spotify last said it had over 100 million subscribers in June 2016, so it has gained around 40 million listeners in one year to remain the world's largest streaming music service. Spotify didn't update its number of paying subscribers, which stood at over 50 million worldwide as of March 2017.

By comparison, Apple at its Worldwide Developers Conference last week announced that Apple Music now has 27 million paying subscribers, just weeks before the streaming music service turns two years old. Apple Music doesn't have a free tier, and Apple doesn't regularly disclose how many users are using the free trial.

Last year, Spotify vice president Jonathan Forster said Apple Music has helped, not hurt, their business by raising the popularity of streaming music services overall. He added that, at the time, Spotify was growing more quickly and adding more users since Apple Music launched, a trend that appears to be continuing.

"It's great that Apple is in the game," Forster told Reuters. "They are definitely raising the profile of streaming. It is hard to build an industry on your own."

While many artists remain critical about Spotify's free ad-supported tier, longtime holdout Taylor Swift reversed course last week and made her catalog of music available on most streaming music services. Swift's music was previously exclusive to Apple Music, only after Apple agreed to pay artists during its free trial period.

Spotify's revenue grew more than 50 percent, to $3.3 billion last year, according to the company's latest financial statement. The company has committed to spending more than $2 billion in payments to record labels over the next two years.

Top Rated Comments

joeykingpin Avatar
89 months ago
I am an Apple diehard, but I must admit that Spotify offers a much better user interface for paid subscribers. I finally dropped Apple Music last month and won't return until they make some improvements.
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dasmb Avatar
89 months ago
the only reason Spotify has had the success they have had is due to millennials wanting everything for free.
The 50 million paying users of Spotify know you are wrong, but then so do you. What we don't know is why you say it anyway.
Score: 39 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sunny1990 Avatar
89 months ago
No need to make it a race with Spotify. Just make a better service and everybody will be happy.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ktecac Avatar
89 months ago
Spotify is still the better music service in my opinion.
Not only is the interface better but I can use it on literally almost any device. PS4, PC, browsers, etc
However if Spotify can't make money they won't continue, so I hope Apple Music does improve.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dasmb Avatar
89 months ago
"Thanks to free tier."

Um -- how about thanks to being a much better service? Apple Music has high latency for playback, browsing and search, a much worse user experience overall and no sharing music or playlists with Android or desktop users.

And then there's the Spotify AI, such as Discover Weekly, which are uncanny. I am delighted weekly by new music in my Discover Weekly playlist.

Meanwhile, Apple Music is the SkyMall of music services.

As a lifelong music fan, Spotify is in my opinion far underpriced for the experience it delivers. The best human and AI curated discovery. The best selection. Great sound quality and low latency service. Best of all, it doesn't take over my personal music library and occasionally block access to it just to market itself -- which is my only experience with Apple Music since the free trial ended. And I barely used the free trial.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jimmdean Avatar
89 months ago
So more than half in the free tier? That's seems like a huge bubble that's going to burst on them one day...
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
iPhone Home Screen Gradient Blank Spaces 1

Sources: iOS 18 Lets Apps Be Placed Anywhere on Home Screen Grid

Sunday March 24, 2024 1:33 pm PDT by
iOS 18 will give iPhone users greater control over Home Screen app icon arrangement, according to sources familiar with the matter. While app icons will likely remain locked to an invisible grid system on the Home Screen, to ensure there is some uniformity, our sources say that users will be able to arrange icons more freely on iOS 18. For example, we expect that the update will introduce...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18: What to Expect From 'Biggest' Update in iPhone's History

Wednesday March 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
iPad Pro 2024 Landscape Camera Feature

New iPad Pro Again Rumored to Feature Landscape Front-Facing Camera

Monday March 25, 2024 5:43 am PDT by
The next-generation iPad Pro will feature a landscape-oriented front-facing camera for the first time, according to the Apple leaker known as "Instant Digital." Instant Digital reiterated the design change earlier today on Weibo with a simple accompanying 2D image. The post reveals that the entire TrueDepth camera array will move to the right side of the device, while the microphone will...
sonoma desktop wwdc

Apple Releases macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 With Fix for USB Hub Bug

Monday March 25, 2024 10:10 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS Sonoma 14.4.1, a minor update for the macOS Sonoma operating system that launched last September. macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 comes three weeks after macOS Sonoma 14.4. The ‌‌‌‌macOS Sonoma‌‌ 14.4‌.1 update can be downloaded for free on all eligible Macs using the Software Update section of System Settings. There's also a macOS 13.6.6 release for those who...