Apple Music set to overtake Spotify in US subscribers, WSJ says
Apple's streaming music service is growing at faster clip in the US than Spotify's. But the Swedish company remains much bigger globally.
Apple Music will surpass Spotify as the largest music streaming service in the US as measured by subscribers later this year, according to a report on Sunday.
Apple's service is adding new US accounts at a faster clip than Spotify, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people in the record business familiar with both companies. Its US subscriber base is growing at about 5 percent a month, faster than Spotify's roughly 2 percent clip, the WSJ reported, citing those people.
If those trajectories continue, Apple will outpace Spotify in US accounts this summer, the paper forecast.
Spotify remains the largest streaming service in the world and is nearly twice is large as Apple Music when measuring global subscribers. Spotify says it had more than 70 million subscribers as of last month, while Apple told the Journal it had 36 million.
Neither Apple nor Spotify immediately responded to a request for comment.
The news comes at an awkward time for Stockholm, Sweden-based Spotify, which is reportedly seeking to go public on the New York Stock Exchange this year. Spotify has declined in the past to comment on its plans.
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