Apple Music Surpasses 40 Million Subscribers, On Track To Overtake Spotify

Apple Music is quickly catching up to Spotify as it continues to grow its number of subscribers in an accelerated pace. The music streaming service has reportedly passed the 40 million mark and it also has a new boss taking charge.

Passing the 40 million subscribers milestone was first reported by Variety. Apple Music first launched back in 2015 as a direct competitor to Spotify. It originally launched as an iOS exclusive music streaming service, but it later reached Android and Windows platforms. The service charges $9.99 month, like Spotify, and offers a 3-month free trial period.

With Apple surpassing 40 million paid subscribers (an additional 8 million are still on free trials), it is already more than halfway to catching up to Spotify, which has 71 million subscribers (as of Dec. 31, 2017). Apple Music is believed to be on track to overtake Spotify in the U.S. this summer with a purported monthly growth rate of 5 persus (versus Spotify’s 2 percent), as per The Wall Street Journal.

Apple also announced on Wednesday that Oliver Schusser has been promoted to lead Apple Music worldwide. Schusser now holds the new title of Vice President of Apple Music & International Content. Apple confirmed to The Verge that Schusser will now report directly to Apple Senior VP Eddy Cue and he will also be in charge of running Apple’s other services like the App Store and iTunes outside of the United States.

Schusser was first hired by Cue back in 2004 and he played major roles in launching Apple services like the App Store, iTunes and iBooks for international markets. He also played a key role in Apple’s acquisition of Shazam, which is still pending approval from the European regulatory body. Schusser will relocate from London to California to perform his duties as Apple Music’s new lead. He will reportedly split his time between Apple Park in Cupertino and Apple’s offices in Culver City. He will also continue to lead Apple’s international teams in 38 different offices.

With Schusser’s promotion, Apple’s marketing executive Tracey Hannelly will take over his previous responsibilities as the leader of Apple Music International. Hannelly joined the company back in 2007. Schusser’s promotion doesn’t affect Jimmy Iovine’s current standing with the company. Iovine is planning to scale back his involvement with Apple Music starting this August and sources say he will only have a consulting role.