Apple Music Subscribers Surpass 50 Million

Apple Music subscribers have surpassed 50 million, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview that also involved Donald Trump and the company's push into the production of original content.

Apple Music, however, is still lagging behind Spotify in the music streaming industry, though probably not for long.

Apple Music vs Spotify

In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple Music subscriptions have reached over 50 million. The figure appears to be a huge increase compared to the 38 million Apple Music subscribers reported in March, but it should be noted that the new number includes users who are on the three-month free trial.

Last month, Apple Music paid subscriptions surpassed 40 million subscribers, with 8 million users on free trials. This means that the increase in Apple Music members is fairly consistent, with about 2 million paying subscribers added each month.

Apple Music, however, is still just in second place in the music streaming industry, as Spotify announced that it had 75 million paying subscribers before it went public in April. There is a total of 170 million Spotify users, including the people using the service for free through its ad-supported version.

Spotify is in danger of losing its place on top of the industry, though. While Spotify paid subscriptions are increasing at a respectable 2 percent rate, the Apple Music subscriber growth rate is at 5 percent. Despite Spotify having a head start of almost a decade, Apple Music is expected to overtake Spotify in terms of paying subscribers by 2019 or 2020.

Tim Cook Talks About Donald Trump And Apple Original Content

Apple Music is not the focus of the Bloomberg TV interview, though, as it started with Cook stating that he opposed the approach by President Donald Trump to trade with China. Cook said that cooperation between the United States and China will have a greater positive effect on the economy, compared to the two countries acting alone.

In the interview, Cook also claimed that Apple will be making a stronger push into the creation of original TV shows and movies. However, the Apple CEO declined to provide further details.

"We're not ready to give any details on it yet. But it's clearly an area of interest," Cook said. His statement follows last year's report that the company is making a $1 billion investment into the creation of Apple original content. The move is said to signal the company's plan to also enter the video streaming industry and go up against the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.