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Spotify Reaches 113 Million Paying Subscribers, Says It's Growing Twice as Fast as Apple Music

Spotify today announced that its streaming music service has reached 113 million paying subscribers as of September 30, up from 108 million as of June 30. Spotify's monthly active user count also increased to 248 million through September, inclusive of users listening to its free, ad-supported tier.

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In a letter to shareholders, part of its third quarter earnings results, Spotify said that publicly available data indicates that it is adding roughly twice as many subscribers per month as Apple Music:

We continue to feel very good about our competitive position in the market. Relative to Apple, the publicly available data shows that we are adding roughly twice as many subscribers per month as they are. Additionally, we believe that our monthly engagement is roughly 2x as high and our churn is at half the rate.

‌Apple Music‌ had 60 million paying subscribers as of late June, according to Apple's services chief Eddy Cue. Spotify has remained nearly twice as large as ‌Apple Music‌ in terms of paying subscribers over the last year.

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Top Rated Comments

where is it Avatar
90 months ago
Not surprised. Spotify has an uncanny ability to push music that you might actually want to listen to more often than not. Other services, like Apple Music you either get stuck listening to popular music or end up hunting fruitlessly for new music.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DNichter Avatar
90 months ago
Nothing wrong with competition as it will continue to push Apple. My only concern with Spotify is how long they will last, considering they don't make any money and are trying to renegotiate a deal currently to pay artists even less. Feels like it is just a matter of time.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
haruhiko Avatar
90 months ago
Competition is good. Hopefully Spotify can survive. Their music suggestion is good.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jjhny Avatar
90 months ago
Apple Music is too restrictive. I understand Apple's business model. But I have my own 'listening model' - and unfortunately my model is more important than theirs.

And what I want wins over what Apple wants to offer. As it should.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xalea Avatar
90 months ago
For one thing Spotify's interface is much better. Even after all this time using the new Apple Music UI I still don't always know where stuff is, or when to flick down the "cards" etc. Also, Spotify's PC app caters to a much larger clientele.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
itsmilo Avatar
90 months ago
Main reason I have not switched to AM is that god awful white on pink Interface and I prefer the playlists on Spotify. Also Spotify Connect to control the music on a different device without pausing whatever you do on the controlling device is awesome.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)