YouTube Music, launched in 2018 to replace Google Play Music, now has more than 50 million paid subscribers. The figure of 50 million also includes YouTube Premium subscribers and “customers still on trial”.
Midia Research data suggests that YouTube Music was the fastest growing music service globally in the first quarter of 2021. However, Google’s paid music streaming service still has a long way to go before it can reach Spotify and Apple Music, which are two of the best music streaming services.
Spotify held a 32% share of the 487 million music subscribers worldwide in the period from January to March. Apple Music’s market share stood at 16%, while Amazon Music captured a 13% share of the global music streaming market.
When the service first launched, it failed to get much traction from users. But in the past two quarters, YouTube has spent a “significant amount of money” to market the service and build “the infrastructure to attract and retain new customers.”
