Spotify Hits 100 Million Subscribers, Twice As Many Paid Subscribers As Apple Music

How is Apple Inc. AAPL's streaming music service holding up to its peers such as Spotify?

The answer could be disappointing to Apple shareholders who had hoped Apple Music would be a meaningful driver of growth. Spotify told The Telegraph that it now counts 100 million monthly active users across the world, 30 million of which are paying a monthly fee.

Spotify continues to add new subscribers at a rate of 1.8 million users per month, of which a similar 30 percent of new users are paying subscribers.

According to Mac Rumors, Apple said during its recent WWDC 2016 conference its streaming music service has just 15 million paying subscribers. The company said in April that has 11 million subscribers, implying it has most recently been growing at a rate of around 1 million new adds every month.

In fact, Spotify said in early May it has been growing at a faster pace since Apple Music was available to customers than before.

Spotify even surpassed Skype as claiming the title as the most lucrative European startup with a valuation estimated to be around $8.5 billion. However, the Sweden-based company continues to operate at a loss given the industry's high royalties and revenue sharing initiatives with its music label partners.