Spotify is the world’s top streaming music service in terms of active users, downloads and revenue, according to a new music-focused report out this morning from App Annie. However, while Spotify bested last year’s top streaming music app Pandora Radio from a global standpoint, Pandora is still strong in the U.S. where it remains the number one streaming service by active users on iPhone and Android.
In other markets, niche players have been carving out their own audiences.
For example, Deezer is the top music service in France, even while Spotify eats up European market share. And in India, apps like Saavn and Gaana have been climbing into the top ten on Android. LINE Music and AWA Music are growing in Japan, and South Korea’s top app, MelOn, also moved into the top 10 by worldwide active iPhone users – even though that country is traditionally an Android stronghold.
The growth potential for all these services is notable, and continuing to accelerate, the report also notes. On Android phones, for example, data consumption on cellular networks and Wi-Fi combined within top music streaming apps growing 25 percent from the third quarter of 2014 to Q3 2015.
Spotify, in particular, still has room to expand its already sizable install base, App Annie believes. Already, it leads downloads across most of Europe, and in some emerging markets like Mexico. But in the U.S., it faces stiffer competition with Pandora, while other emerging markets may end up favoring local services as their population comes online via mobile phones.
In related news, Spotify itself released new metrics today illustrating its footprint: the company said that 74 million listeners streamed over 20 billion hours of music in 2015, and its personalized “Discover Weekly” playlist reached 1.7 billion streams in 5 months. There are also now 2 billion playlists on the service.
As more users turning to music streaming services on their phones, app store revenues have been growing as well. Although failures like the shutdown of Rdio indicate how hard it is to compete in this space where margins are slim, and app stores eat into those meager revenues, the money made from subscriptions sold through in-app purchases has more than doubled from Q3 2014 to Q3 2015, says App Annie.
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