In a new report by App Annie, Spotify, is wearing the crown as the king of music streaming.
Before Apple Music entered the music streaming ecosystem, things were somewhat stale, its introduction certainly shook things up. This was evident in Spotify introducing new features right after Apple Music launched.
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The competition has continued to be stronger, Google Music made major adjustments and the recent news of YouTube Music entering the scene is making things interesting.
According to the report, Spotify is the top music streaming service when it comes to active users, downloads and revenue. In its own report, Spotify claims it had over 75-million listeners enjoying over 20-billion hours of music and with over 2-billion playlists created in 2015.
Read more: Apple Music now available for Android on Beta, missing some key features
Interestingly, although Spotify is the top app overall, in individual countries it’s not the preferred service.
In France, for example, Deezer — which recently introduced a family plan — is the top music streaming service. In India, Saavn and Gaana, gained popularity. And in Japan, LINE Music and AWA Music are growing in leaps and bounds. Also in the US, Pandora remains at the top spot with its interactive radio service.
The growth of the popularity of these music streaming services has impacted data consumption too.
According to App Annie, the top streaming apps worldwide saw data consumption per active Android phone user grow by 25% year-on-year. And downloads increased by around 15% and revenue from in-app purchases doubled.
App Annie notes that the success of the music streaming service is not only beneficiary to the services alone but it has seen traditional FM radio networks gaining traction with apps.
The report suggests that YouTube Music, though new, may have a huge impact in music streaming services in the coming months, noting that its strong integration with Google Play Music and the popularity of YouTube as a way to consume music will assist in it being taken up by the consumers.
