Apple’s decision to launch its own music streaming service appears to be paying off. 18 months into its launch, Apple Music just hit the 20 million subscriber milestone, a feat that took market leader Spotify roughly six years. That comparison isn’t really fair though, because Spotify laid the groundwork for music streaming in 2008 and didn’t have the marketing power that comes with being the most valuable company in the world.
While Apple Music’s growth is still remarkable, what’s even more impressive is the fact that Spotify is keeping pace with Apple Music in terms of subscriber growth. When Apple launched its service in June 2015, Spotify had 20 million paying subscribers and some experts predicted that Apple Music might catch up with the market leader in 2016. Now that Apple Music has 20 million paying users, Spotify is already beyond 40 million and has yet to show signs of slowing down.
What is becoming clear is the fact that the streaming market is quickly turning into a two-horse race. Spotify and Apple Music are already way ahead of the competition and the gap is only growing.
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