Despite Apple’s entrance in the music streaming business last summer, the race is still not over.
Spotify, the Swedish music streaming service and Apple Music’s biggest competitor, now has more than 28 million paying subscribers and is on track to reach 30 million in the next three months, according to a report from the Financial Times, citing anonymous sources. Just last June, Spotify revealed it had 20 million paying users, and a total of 75 million users, including those using the free ad-supported version of the service.
With that said, Apple (AAPL) Music, which only offers a free trial, has been gaining ground incredibly fast. Last month, just six months after its launch, Apple Music had already amassed 10 million paid subscribers, and within a month had added an extra million to its count. Spotify, in contrast, took six years to reach 10 million paying users.
Tidal, which has had a rocky time since its relaunch under the ownership of rapper Jay-Z, got a small victory the last couple of days thanks to an exclusive release of Kanye West’s latest album and a special promotion for the service from Beyonce. Tidal’s app hit the top spot on the App Store on Monday.
We’ve reached out to Spotify and will update if we hear more.