When Apple launched Apple Music in June 2015, many people thought it would be a question of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’ Apple would catch up with and eventually surpass Spotify in terms of paid subscribers.
Apple’s financial and marketing power combined with an installed base of hundreds of millions of iOS devices seemed like a tough combination to beat for the Swedish music streaming pioneers.
And yet, ever since Apple launched its own streaming service halfway through 2015, Spotify has managed to keep Apple Music at arm’s length. Going back and forth in announcing new subscriber milestones, the gap between Spotify and Apple Music has remained remarkably steady over the past 20 months.
Last week, Spotify rather casually announced that it had just passed 50 million paid subscribers, extending its lead over Apple to 30 million paying customers.
Now it’s Apple’s turn again to come out with another milestone. And it would be a big surprise if the company’s announcement of 30 million Apple Music subscribers wouldn’t come soon.