Apple Music makes bounds with rise in subscribers

While it still trails behind rival Spotify, Apple Music’s streaming service continues to make bounds. Its number of subscribers has now risen to 17 million, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced in his keynote speech at the Apple products event in San Francisco this week.

In June, the figure was 15 million. "We’ve always had a deep love of music," Cook said.

Whether attracting 2 million paying customers in three months is a good result has divided analysts, especially given that closest rival Spotify has grown to 39 million users, from 100 million users, who pulled out their credit cards to subscribe.

Some say its growth is “consistent”, given that Apple launched mid-2015, while Spotify in 2006.

Others contend that with the default installation of the services in all iPhones and number of superstar exclusives Apple Music has struck, it should be higher – or at least slowed down Spotify’s own rapid rise by encouraging switch-overs.

During his speech Cook referred to Apple Music 70 exclusives in 2016, the most being Drake and Frank Ocean, making it "the premiere destination for new artists and existing artists to launch their exclusive music."

Apple has refreshed the Apple Music app to coincide with the launch later this month of iOS 10. In terms of improving design and experience, it has ticked both boxes. It has dispensed with the visual clutter, the bold typeface in the title page is more pleasing and the app pages are shorter and more interactive. The personalized For You section has a new impressive feature called My New Music Mix as an answer to Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist. 

Cook also revealed that App Store downloads have hit 140 billion.

Also on the horizon are the introductions of a new iPhone game starring everyone’s favourite Italian plumber Mario and a Pokemon Go app to Apple Watch. The Beats division is launching Beats Solo3 and Powerbeats3 and the new BeatsX wireless headphones with the iPhone 7. Australia’s own Sia performed The Greatest and Chandelier to close out the jam-packed event.