Spotify hits new subscriber milestone, faster moving than Apple Music

Spotify, the largest music streaming service at the moment, has announced it has now signed up 40 million subscribers.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek took to Twitter to claim, “40 is the new 30.”

The tweet’s claim was later confirmed by Spotify executives.

This comes a week after Apple Music announced its subscription figures had risen to 17 million, and Pandora announced licensing deals that will bring it closer to its long-awaited on-demand service. Tidal hit 4.2 million by June.

Spotify announced the 30 million figure in March this year, and 20 million in June 2015. That is a 100% leap in 15 months. In June 2016, Spotify crossed the 100 million user mark although how that has risen in the last three months has not been revealed.

Attracting and/or converting 10 million users in six months sends a strong signal for Spotify that it is still the market leader by a large length.

Apple Music and Tidal use their strong connections with the music industry to draw more subscribers through exclusive deals. As reported in TMN yesterday, Beyonce’s Lemonade alone caused 1.2 million fans to subscribe to Tidal. Most major streaming services charge US$10 a month.

Spotify works a number of tiers, including a free one, while the other two have premium paid-only.

Apple Music, which launched in mid-2015, has grown from 13 million to 17 million in the last seven months – an impressive growth rate but still a much slower rate despite the deep pockets of its parent company for strong marketing and exclusive deals.

Its problem is that before it launched, record companies insisted during tough negotiations that it not have a free tier. As a result, Apple Music does not have the luxury of coaxing users to come in, and then convert to paid subs after.

Spotify last week saw the departure of Chief Revenue Officer Jeff Levick after five years. He wanted to spend more time with his family and other “passions that I haven’t even really begun to explore because frankly, I just haven’t had the time.” His departure comes at a time when the company is rumoured for an IPO later this year.