The big picture: Spotify has managed to maintain a respectable distance between itself and the next closest competitor in the global streaming music subscription market. As impressive as Spotify's lead over the competition is, its market share actually dipped two percent quarter over quarter and three percent compared to Q2 2019. In fact, it was YouTube Music that saw the biggest gains over the trailing 12 months leading up to Q2 2021.
MIDiA in its latest music subscriber market share report said Spotify was the top digital service provider with a market share of 31 percent as of Q2 2021. Apple Music trailed far behind with a 15 percent market share followed by Amazon Music and Tencent Music, each having captured 13 percent slice of the pie.
YouTube Music, NetEase, Deezer, Yandex and others collectively populate the bottom quarter of the market.
MIDiA is presenting what some might consider older data simply because the market analysis process takes a while to complete.
MIDiA said YouTube Music is especially popular among Gen Z and younger millennials, which may have Spotify concerned considering its core base of millennial subscribers is beginning to age.
The market as a whole continues to exhibit strong growth. At the end of Q2 2021, there were 523.9 million music subscribers worldwide. That's 109.5 million (26.4 percent) more than at the same period a year earlier.
Image credit: Omid Armin