Apple Music is said to have a goal of reaching 100 million subscribers, despite being a late-comer to the streaming scene. If current numbers hold, and people opt to pay, the new service is already a tenth of the way there. USA Today is reporting that Apple Music has attracted 11 million trial users to date.
The key word here is “trial,” meaning no one is paying $9.99 a month (or $14.99 for the family plan) just yet. The real test is going to be whether the company can retain the 11 million (and counting, presumably) users and convince the toe-dippers to jump into the premium pool when the three-month trial ends in October. If the numbers hold, Apple Music will already boast half the paid subscriptions as Spotify.
Eddy Cue, Apple’s svp of internet software, told USA Today that the company is “thrilled with the numbers so far” and revealed that two million of the trial users chose the pricier family plan.
Apple Music launched June 30 in 100 countries, boasting a library of 30 million songs, a stable of human-curated playlists and its own live radio station, Beats 1 — which could soon have some siblings.
Apple’s titleless Jimmy Iovine said one of the challenges in growing its paid subscriber base will be convincing millennials, who are used to getting music for free, that they’re “offering something that will improve their lives.”
Iovine also touted Apple Music’s social network for artists, called Connect. “I’m hearing a sign of relief, that now finally they have tools they can use to access their fans,” he said. “To Apple’s credit, they move like lightning. You get what you give.”
July was also a good month for the company’s App Store, which recorded $1.7 billion in transactions, bringing the total amount Apple has paid to app developers to $33 billion. Cue said the App Store experienced “particularly momentum in China,” where the company’s hardware business faces stiff competition from local manufacturers including Lenovo, Huawei and Xiaomi.
