Spotify Shows Off Latest User Numbers In Response To Apple Music

In a blog post on Wednesday, Spotify revealed its latest user figures: 20 million paying subscribers out of 75 million active users, an increase from the 15 million paying customers and 60 million users reported in January. The streaming music service, which has been criticized by some musicians (including Taylor Swift) for allegedly paying artists too little, also boasted that it has paid more than $300 million in royalties in the first quarter of 2015.

The blog post comes just two days after Apple announced its new streaming music service, Apple Music. Unlike Spotify, Apple Music will not have a free tier—the service will cost $10 a month, or $15 a month for a family plan. According to a source speaking to the Associated Press, Apple aims to sign up 100 million paying subscribers.

Spotify, which was founded in 2006 and launched in the U.S. in July 2011, has a significant head start on Apple in the streaming music market. But Apple, of course, has a large and devoted user base of its own, and is betting that its product will draw music lovers away from on Rdio, Rhapsody, Spotify, and other existing streaming services.

“10 million subscribers in our first five and a half years—and another 10 million subscribers in just a single year!” says Spotify’s upbeat blog post. “That’s an average of one new subscriber every three seconds over the last year. Wow.” Whether that level of growth continues after Apple officially enters the market on June 30 remains to be seen.

[via The Guardian]