Apple Music is lagging behind Spotify, for now
Apple Music has been available to music lovers for exactly one month. And at least one music label is actually willing to disclose how the service is fairing, according to a new report from Re/Code.
Ben Patterson, CEO of indie distributor DashGo, says Apple Music streams are just 4 percent of the volume from Spotify.
Those numbers need to be put in perspective, though. Currently, Spotify has more than 75 million subscribers worldwide, while Apple Music has reportedly signed up 10 million users to this point. Taking that into account, Apple Music subscribers accounted for 13 percent of the streams that Spotify users do.
But DashGo doesn’t exactly represent mainstream artists. Here’s more from the report:
Patterson thinks the disparity may come from the fact that he works with relatively obscure acts — the first thing on his “featured clients” page is a song from Coconut Records, a little-known project from “Rushmore” actor Jason Schwartzman. In Patterson’s words, he specializes in “deep cuts/long tail” music.
While DashGo’s numbers are interesting, I would take them with a big grain of salt. At least in my experience, Spotify does a much better job allowing listeners to find the type of obscure tracks DashGo specializes in.
And right now, Apple Music has no paid subscribers since it offers all new users a free, three-month trial. Even the very early adopters won’t be charged for the service for another two months. So it may be a long while before we know how well Apple’s initiative is really doing.
For other news today, see: Groupon To Go delivery and takeout blows into the Windy City, Amazon wants you to Dash to them instead of the store, and Fling even more avian destruction in Angry Birds 2.
