Apple Music has amassed 10 million subscribers within six months, a landmark which took Spotify six years, it has emerged.
The streaming service, which was launched at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference last June, is rapidly closing the gap between its closest rival Spotify, sources told the Financial Times.
Sweden-based Spotify, founded in 2008, had some 20 million paying subscribers as of last June, with 55 million using the platform's limited free tier. The number of subscribers is now likely to be closer to 25 million, according to the Verge.
Apple last announced official user figures in October, when it said it had 6.5 million paying users and more than 8.5 million participating in a three month free trial, equating to some 15 million users in total.
The rapid ascent of Apple's platform has been boosted by a number of high-profile celebrity endorsements and exclusives, most notably its status as the only streaming service to host Taylor Swift's repertoire. Swift also recently recorded a concert of her 1989 World Tour in Sydney which is available exclusively to Apple Music users.
Behind the scenes, it's likely both platforms were locked in a bitter struggle to be the first to secure exclusive rights to the Beatles' back catalogue, but the Fab Four finally embraced streaming on all services, including Google Play and Deezer on Christmas Eve last year.
Spotify has previously been reported to be considering allowing certain artists to stream their material only to paying customers, bypassing millions of users who listen to music on the platform for free.
The music streaming service has reportedly told record executives it may release some artists' new material only to its 20m subscribers who pay £9.99 per month for unlimited access to more than 30m songs free from adverts.
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