Apple Music Is Boosting Spotify, Not Crushing It, Says CEO Daniel Ek

Despite predictions that Apple Music could swallow streaming music competitors, a different phenomenon seems to be taking place: Apple’s interest in the rapidly evolving music industry is actually giving its competitors a boost.

As Fast Company reported last week, Apple’s Beats 1 radio station is validating the business model of Dash Radio, according to its founder DJ Skee, who claims he had the idea first and is rapidly expanding his 24/7 radio network. And on Monday, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said that the launch of Apple Music is only helping his service grow.

“Apple has validated the thing that we said 10 years ago,” Ek said at a Rogers Communications event in Toronto, as reported by Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail. “The world is moving to streaming.” Ek maintains that sign-ups for Spotify have accelerated since Apple Music debuted, though he didn’t reveal any exact numbers. “We keep setting new records every week,” he said, according to Bloomberg.

Of Spotify’s 75 million users in 58 countries, 20 million pay $10 a month for its premium service, though the company still is not profitable. While Apple can take a loss on a music service that feeds its other business, Spotify is dependent on the revenue collected through streaming—which he says will continue to grow as the sector increasingly dominates listening behavior.

“We’re in the fortunate position where we see the underlying business performing incredibly well,” Ek said. “More people are signing up. The lifetime values are great. We see a lot of appetite in the sector—it’s getting easier and easier to sign people up. Generally, people now accept the streaming future.”

[via Bloomberg]