New data from Counterpoint this week underscores the continued growth of streaming music as the competition intensifies between Apple Music and Spotify. According to the data, Apple Music’s subscriber base grew by 36% in 2019, giving Apple a 19% share of the total paid subscriptions in the industry.
Counterpoint notes that Apple Music also accounted for a 24% share of total revenues in the industry. These numbers compare to Spotify, which locked in a 35% share of total paid subscriptions and 31% of total revenue. For streaming industry as a whole, subscriptions grew 32% year-on-year according to Counterpoint, reaching 358 million subscriptions.
For Apple, analysts believed that improvements to the Apple Music experience continue to drive switchers from Spotify, while Spotify’s focus on exclusive content and extended promotional deals is helping its growth.
Counterpoint analyst Abhilash Kumar said:
Looking forward, Counterpoint expects online music streaming subscriptions to grow more than 25% year-over-year- in 2020 despite the economic uncertainty caused by COVID-19. This would drive total subscriptions to over 450 million by the end of this year, analysts say.
You can read the full release from Counterpoint here.
