Spotify Still Leading Streaming Music Subs, While Apple, Amazon Advance, Says Futuresource

Despite widespread coverage of Apple’s HomePod announcement last week and the company’s reveal of 27 million Apple Music subscribers, it’s Spotify that should be applauded for continuing to lead the subscription streaming music market, said a Futuresource blog post Tuesday. Spotify, despite “challenging finances, contract negotiations, increased competition and continued criticism” of its free tier, is the “go-to music streaming subscription service in many countries worldwide,” said the research firm. Spotify is approaching 100 million free users globally and had roughly double the paid subscribers of Apple Music in March, it said. Futuresource also noted Amazon and its “push for the digital home.” Although subscriptions for its paid music streaming service remain “relatively low,” Amazon had roughly 60 million Prime members in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan who have access to a limited selection of ad-free streaming tracks, which, along with the growing base of Echo speakers, are “likely to stimulate a degree of interest” in Amazon’s paid music service, it said. Spotify and Apple Music account for nearly 60 percent of the estimated 150 million global music subscribers, but differentiation “remains challenging for all services,” Futuresource said. “Spotify’s allure continues, as it prepares itself for its inevitable" initial public offering, it said.