Apple Music has 15 million users, 6.5 million paying

The service was able to retain around 60% of its initial 11 million trial users

Given the competition in the space, I thought Apple Music might have a tough time breaking through. On the other hands, it was Apple that was launching it, so it would have a built in base of users.

Since the service launched at the end of June, that means that, for the last two weeks the company has finally had some paying users. And on Monday, Apple CEO Tim Cook, speaking at the WSJ.D Live conference, divulged the information we all want to know.

Apple Music currently has a total of 15 million users, of which 6.5 million of them are paying, or roughly 43% of subscribers.

That's actually a better ration than Spotify has; that company had 75 million active listeners as of June of this year, of which 20 million are paying, or just 26%.

What's more impressive about that number is that, in June, Apple revealed that 11 million people had signed up for a free three month trial, which ended at the end of September, meaning it held on to around 60% of those user when it came time to pay.

Of course, it should be noted that Apple automatically began charging people for a month if they forgot to cancel, so maybe it would be better to check in again on this in a month, once those accidental members would have, presumably, gotten their act together and stopped paying for something they didn't really want.

Either way, considering how new the service is, Apple is right to tout those numbers, as they are pretty impressive.

Apple Music was unveiled in June, and it allows users to listen to their entire iTunes library through the service, meaning both songs they have purchased and ones they have uploaded from CDs, as well as the entire iTunes library, which consists of over 30 million songs.

One aspect of the service consists of a music recommendation engine called, "For You," which recommends playlists and albums based on a user's previous iTunes purchases, as well as what kind of music they like. It also features streams which have curated artists, including Pharrell and Drake.

Apple Music also includes a radio service, called Beats 1, which will broadcast live to over 100 countries. It is a 24-hour stations, led by DJs Zane Lowe in Los Angeles, Ebro Darden in New York and Julie Adenuga in London. Programs on Beats 1 will offer exclusive interviews, guest hosts and the best of what’s going on in the world of music. 

The third component is the social aspect, called Connect, which allows fans to connect directly with artists, who can share lyrics, backstage photos, videos or release their latest song. Fans can comment on or like anything an artist has posted, and share it via Messages, Facebook, Twitter and email. And when you comment, the artist can respond back directly.

Obviously Apple Music was not the only thing that Cook discussed at the event. He also took the opportunity to talk about the new Apple TV, which he originally unveiled last month. It will be released next week, and it will be available for pre-order next Monday. Shipments will begin by the end of next week.

(Image source: apple.com/music)