Apple Music Hits 40 Million Subscriber Milestone

Apple Music hit a new milestone this week as it officially reached 40 million paid subscribers across 115 countries, reports Variety. The new number was shared in a memo circulated by Eddy Cue, who also announced the promotion of Oliver Schusser to Apple's new head of Apple Music Worldwide.

Schusser previously served as vice president of Apple Music and International Content and has worked alongside Eddy Cue for several years handling Apple's non-U.S. affairs for Apple Music, the App Store, iTunes Movies and TV shows, iBooks, Podcasts, and more. He is said to have had a key role in Apple's recently announced, but not yet finalized, acquisition of Shazam.

apple music trio
Apple hit its new 40 million subscriber milestone less than a month after iTunes chief Eddy Cue announced 38 million subscribers at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, suggesting the music service is continuing to gain subscribers at a rapid pace.

Apple Music had 27 million subscribers last June, 30 million subscribers last September, 36 million subscribers in February, and 38 million subscribers in March. Adding an additional 2 million subscribers to hit 40 million subscribers in April marks Apple Music's fastest growth yet.

According to Cue, Apple also has an additional eight million people who are testing Apple Music through the three-month free trial that the company offers.

A recent report from The Wall Street Journal has suggested that Apple Music is on track to overtake Spotify in U.S. subscribers as soon as this summer because its five percent growth rate per month outpaces Spotify's two percent growth rate.

Spotify, when it filed for IPO in late February, said that it has 71 million paying subscribers in total along with 159 million monthly active users.

Top Rated Comments

Andres Cantu Avatar
74 months ago
“Music is at the heart of Apple’s DNA.”

Ok, let’s get the iPod Touch updated then :D
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jerry16 Avatar
74 months ago
Good for Apple. I wish they would stop spamming me about it though. I don't know how many times I have to hit no thanks on the trial pop up. I also disable Apple Music once per week in the music settings but it magically gets re enabled every week on it's own. I honestly expect more from Apple when it comes to user experience than to be nagged and spammed for a service. Just separate Apple Music from the music app and stop spamming me.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FrancoisC Avatar
74 months ago
The difference is Apple is profitable and Spotify is bleeding money. Apple will win this race. Only question is when.
Thing is; you don't want a winner and a loser, and even more important: You want competition.

Competition push more innovation, when you have a monopoly things tends to stagnate (Except prices, those do go up in a monopoly!) :(
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lcgarza10 Avatar
74 months ago
It sucks for me, i tried for 1 month because i wanted to check it out, but i will return to spotify in the next days
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
itsmilo Avatar
74 months ago
its so weird I don’t know a single person using it nor have I ever heard anyone even mention the term Apple Music. Regional thing?
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iapplelove Avatar
74 months ago
I enjoyed my free trial. Just not enough to pay for it each month.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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