Music streaming has become the wave of the future, as large portions of the public have forgone physical and digital music sales in favour of its more portable and accessible counterpart. Streaming effectively gives its user the ability to access a vast library of albums, singles, compilations, playlists and more across multiple genres and decades.
Spotify is the undisputed king of this relatively new phenomenon, as it can be accessed from a myriad of smartphone devices. However, Apple Music, which is exclusively available to iOS users, has been gradually accumulating an impressive number of paying customers. Eddy Cue, the company's Senior Vice President, has revealed that their subscriber rate has grown to 38 million, having amassed nearly 2 million users within 5 weeks.
This officially puts Apple Music in second place amongst streaming services, as Spotify currently has over 70 million paying subscribers in their arsenal, alongside its 159 million active users.
Cue has stated that "the opportunity here is about growth for us and growth for everyone." recognizing how the great disparity between those who can afford monthly memberships for streaming services, and those who can't needs to be mended.
In other Apple Music news, it has been revealed that Rihanna has acquired 2 billion streams on the service, which is just another historic record under the Bajan megastar's illustrious belt.