Rumors suggest that Apple Music already has 10 million subscribers, according to “Inside sources at some of the major labels — who are bound by ironclad NDAs.” Really?
People are pointing out that this number is half what Spotify has as paying customers (20 million, out of a total of 75 million), but ignores the fact that Apple Music actually has no subscribers, only people using the service’s trial. I’m pretty sure you can’t start paying for Apple Music even if you want to.
10 million trial users is a good number, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that many people signed up for three months of free music. But it’s a meaningless number right now, at least until September 30, when paid subscriptions start being counted. (And that’s only for people who signed up on the first day.)
Given that more than 40% of iOS devices are running iOS 8.4, which is required for Apple Music, and gazillions of people have access to it via iTunes, the number might actually not be very high. I can’t imagine any serious music fan not signing up for the trial.
This said, it’s a large number of people who are now exposed to the concept of streaming music. We’ll have to wait and see how many of these Apple can convert to tithe-paying users after the trial. And then, of course, when Apple releases an Android app, we’ll see a larger pool of potential users…