Apple Music Now Has 27 Million Paid Subscribers

As recently revealed by Apple during its yearly Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), its Apple Music service has now reached 27 million paid subscribers. Moreover, with the upcoming roll out of the iPhone maker’s iOS 11, the newest version of its iOS mobile operating system, Apple Music will become more social (more on this later) and even be capable of working with other devices and mobile apps.

Although 27 million paid subscribers is a bit of a long way compared to Spotify’s 50 million, the number is still pretty impressive. And it appears to be proof that Apple’s tactic of offering pre-installation as well as a free trial is helping the music subscription service immensely in gaining ground against industry leader Spotify.

During the recent WWDC, Apple also took the opportunity to introduce a new MusicKit application program interface (API) that should basically allow app developers to make use of users’ Apple Music accounts in order to play full tracks in other mobile apps. This can be done by having developers gain access to the user’s Cloud Library, retrieve their For You suggestions to allow for track customization, surface Featured tracks and charts in order to promote what music is currently trending, and even browse through playlists, stations, and genres. Also, the MusicKit API will facilitate Nike+ Run integrations with the user’s playlists, provide the ability to immediately add tracks to a person’s music library, and for good measure, allow the user to dJ with all of the 40 million tracks on Apple Music by way of the Anchor podcasting app. The MusicKit API may actually give Spotify’s arsenal of APIs and SDKs a run for its money.

In terms of wireless audio streaming protocols, Apple also debuts AirPlay 2, which allows for multiple room audio speaker management capabilities directly into the iOS environment by way of HomeKit. What this means for music loving iOS users is that they can easily listen to their favorite tracks even while inside the other rooms in their house. Even watchOS 4 (the operating system for the Apple Watch) is joining in on the fun -- it now has an improved interface, multiple playlist syncing capabilities, and a less hassle AirPods user experience.

And with regards to becoming more social, users who connect with family or friends through Apple Music will now be able to see what music their peers are digging so that they could also check out the same songs. In terms of privacy, users will now have the option of opting whether to set their listening activity to private or public. Moreover, friends will also now have the ability to add tracks to a user’s Up Next queue, which actually may remind people of Spotify’s collaboration friendly playlists.