Apple Music Officially Hits 60 Million Active Users

Apple announced on Thursday that their flagship music streaming service - Apple Music - has officially hit the 60 million mark in terms of active users. Though they are still quite a long way from surpassing their fiercest competitor, Spotify’s 100 million users number, Apple is clearly catching up.

Apple's Figure

Eddy Cue, Senior Vice President of Services For the iPhone confirmed to the press that the company now had a total of 60 million active users in total. Apple had never given the public an exact number of users for its streaming service since May 2018 when it said that it was hosting approximately 50 million listeners worldwide.

But the figure doesn’t reflect the total number of people who are actually paying for the service. Instead, it also includes those who are on the one month free trial period before they actually have to pay.

Spotify's Figure

Back in April, Spotify has gone public with their number of users, announcing that the service has reached 100 million ‘premium’ subscribers. Spotify’s definition of premium subscriber includes those who are paying for the service, as well as those who are on the free Premium trial permitted after they had inserted a proper payment method like a credit or debit card.

But if Spotify was to include the total number of people who are using the service, as in those who are listening for free, Spotify is the home to 217 million users.

Rival In Business, Rival In Court

Apple and Spotify are currently locked in a bitter battle when Spotify filed for an anti-trust complaint to European regulators in March. Fierce competitors both in business and both in court, there is little doubt how either company is trying to outdo each other on their respective services. And surely, Apple will not hold back until they are able to match Spotify step by step in the nascent music streaming industry.