It looks like Apple Music has beaten the predictions by making it to 10 million subscribers much faster than anticipated. Although no official announcement has been made, the Financial Times has confirmed that Apple has achieved that number, proving that the 90 day trial period for the service appears to have worked.In contrast, it took Spotify 6 years to get to that number, although that was well before streaming became a common practice.
Speaking of Spotify, rumors are that its paid subscriber numbers have risen to 25 million users as well.
All this spells great news for artists, bands, labels and publishers. Just from those 2 services, there are more than 15 million more paid subscribers than last year at this time, which would be about a 30% increase.
Of course, we've yet to hear about YouTube Red's subscriber numbers yet, the $9.95 per month service that eliminates adverts from your videos. That could also give those subscriber numbers a boost, although the feeling is that if the numbers were actually that good the company would be boasting about it already.
Regardless, it looks like streaming has at least turned a small corner as more and more people are finding value in paying for their music than getting it for free.
