Shedding light on the adoption of Apple"s music streaming service, the analytics firm CIRP said in a report that about 40% of Apple buyers in the US, including those who buy iPhones, iPads, and Macs, prefer using Apple Music. That"s according to the data the firm collected over 12 months ending in March 2024.
The firm noted that Apple Music"s adoption rate increased over the years, from 34% in 2020. Apple Music rivals the likes of the Swedish music streaming giant Spotify, which outperforms across the iOS and Android platforms. Spotify has over 239 million paid subscribers globally as per the latest numbers published by the company.
Speaking of other services popular among Apple device buyers, Spotify sits at the second spot with 29% in 2024 and achieved adoption growth similar to Apple Music. While Amazon has a better penetration rate than Pandora, the popularity of both music streaming services has dropped over the years.
For reference, here are the adoption rates for various services the firm tracked:
- Spotify: 29% (2024), up from 24% (2020)
- Amazon Music: 10% (2024), down from 16% (2020)
- Pandora: 8% (2024), down from 12% (2020)
"First with iTunes and then the streaming Apple Music service - each sought to make a mobile device, first an iPod and now an iPhone, indispensable to users," the firm said. "We see Apple Music has served that purpose rather well. In the past five years, Apple Music has grown among Apple device owners, and held its own relative to competing services."
Apple Music was launched back in 2015 as a subscription-based offering to replace iTunes Music. The music streaming service was initially priced at $9.99/mo and now costs $10.99/mo for the individual plan after the latest price hike.
It"s slowly becoming one of the money-making machines for Apple. The Cupertino giant reported in its Q2 2024 earnings that its Services business, which includes Apple Music and Apple TV+ subscriptions, crunched revenues of $23.9 billion with a 14% year-on-year growth.