Spotify continues to lead over Apple Music with 40mn subscribers

Spotify, a digital music service that gives access to millions of songs, has exceeded 40 million paying subscribers, jumping from 20 million in June 2015 to 40 million today.

A spokeswoman for confirmed the news after Spotify’s co-founder and Chief Executive Daniel Ek tweeted “40 is the new 30. Million.”

40 is the new 30.
Million. 😄

— Daniel Ek (@eldsjal) September 14, 2016

By crossing the 40 million threshold Apple music’s rival, Spotify confirms its position as market leader in an increasingly crowded music-streaming market where Apple has 17 million paying subscribers.

At the end of June, Spotify said it had more than 100 million active monthly users, including both those who use the free ad-based service and the premium paying one.

According to trade specialists BuzzAngle Music, the number of music streams has doubled more than in the first six months of the year compared to the same period a year earlier. In the United States, the biggest market, there were 114 billion streams in the first half of 2016, exceeding for the first time the number of videos watched.

However, to lure in subscribers, Spotify operates a free tier, which many other streaming services have shied away from. Instead of requiring a monthly payment, the company attempts to recoup some of those streaming costs by dropping in adverts between tracks.

After launching in Indonesia in March, Spotify is now present in 59 countries.