Despite a number of usability issues, it appears that Apple Music is quickly catching on with consumers. Just about one month after its debut, music industry publication HITS Daily Double is reporting that Apple’s on-demand streaming service has already attracted more than 10 million subscribers.
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To put that figure into context, Spotify currently has 75 million active users, of which 20 million are paying subscribers. So all things being equal, 10 million Apple Music users in just four weeks time isn’t too bad at all. Once iOS 9 is released alongside new iPhone models, it stands to reason that this figure could easily double or even triple.
Of course, the more important question is whether or not Apple will be able to convince a good percentage of these early Apple Music users to become paying subscribers once the service’s three-month trial period expires.
The report reads in part:
Apple doesn’t make its streaming numbers public but is showing reports to those rights holders, who have been surprised by how big those figures already are. Some streaming numbers (notably on a couple of cutting-edge hip-hop titles) are actually competitive with Spotify’s. Some rights holders feel Apple should publicize these figures; the decision to do so or not falls to Eddy Cue. But releasing the numbers would likely go a long way toward turning those who don’t yet get it into believers.
Now one of the underlying issues we’ve already seen with Apple Music is that Apple hasn’t exactly done a great job of promoting the service’s existence. While the company has released three or so commercials touting its new music service, the ads aren’t exactly in heavy rotation. What’s more, because Apple opted to bundle Apple Music into iTunes (on the desktop) and into the Music app on the iPhone, even users on the most current version of iOS may not be aware that they can test out the bulk of the world’s music catalogue for free, for three months no less.
Regardless, the popularity of the iPhone enables Apple to push Apple Music in front of consumer eyes in a way that competitors like Pandora and Spotify simply can’t match. For this very reason, some have raised the argument that Apple would have been better off making Apple Music a standalone app.
