Apple Music attracts 11m in trial period

The numbers are in. Five weeks after its launch Apple Music has attracted over 11 million members during its free trial period.

Announced by Apple’s SVP of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue yesterday inan interview with USA Today, it was revealed that 2 million of the 11 million sign-ups are for family plans.

Costing Australians $11.99 a month and families (up to six) at $17.99, Apple Music offered its 30 million tracks and curated playlists to users on June 30. It launched with hopes of converting its trial users into paying subscribers – 80% of Spotify’s paid subscribers came across from its free tier.

Spotify currently has 20 million paying subscribers and is available in 58 markets. Pandora has 79.4 million users in 26 locations, with Australian and New Zealand users making up more than 3 million. Given Apple Music launched in over 100 territories, it’s apposite the industry will be watching closely until October to see just how many of the 11 million keep paying.

Streaming competitor Rdio offers a catalogue of around 35 million songs in 85 countries. While it doesn’t share its number of paid subscribers because it is a privately owned company, the service has 10s of millions of registered users globally.

Ted Cohen, managing partner of TAG Strategic and former SVP Digital Development at EMI Music (2000 – 2006), told AFR the figures are “[…]respectable, but it would be more respectable if they were a new service that was just starting and people had to trust them.”

At Apple’s third quarter conference last month CEO Tim Cook said the number of people using thetrial period is in the millions. He also said users of the worldwide radio station Beats 1 is also seven figures.

Apple is aiming at 100 million subscribers. To do so it needs to not only bring in consumers new to streaming but get those on other services to switch over.

Jimmy Iovine, who along with Dr. Dre sold Beats to Apple and had its streaming service form the basis of Apple Music, acknowledges the initial hurdles. “[… ] there's still the issue of winning over millennials, who never pay for music, by showing them you're offering something that will improve their lives,” he told USA Today. “And finally, there are people out there who I think understand its value, but we still have to go out and get them."