Amazon Music Hits 32 Million Subscribers Possibly Crushing Jay-Z’s Tidal

CBx Vibe:Middle Child” J. Cole

By CultureBanx Team

  • Amazon Music’s paid subscribers grew 70% year-over-year
  • Tidal has the most preeminent hi-def music streaming offering under its Hi-FI subscription

Amazon Music’s 70% subscriber growth from last year has put all of its competitors on notice, especially Jay-Z’s high fidelity streaming service Tidal. The Financial Times reported the company now has 32 million paid subscribers in an industry Goldman Sachs forecasts will reach $80 billion by 2030. Can Tidal along with Apple and Spotify devise a plan to fend off territory poaching Amazon from fully taking over the sector?

Why This Matters: Many people wouldn’t immediately put Tidal in the same conversation as Amazon Music, though that would be a mistake. The artist owned platform has a commanding presence with the most preeminent hi-def music streaming offering under its Hi-FI subscription. Amazon wants to slide in and of course take over this space with the launch of its own high fidelity music streaming platform tier, in addition to dethroning Apple Music and Spotify.

One bright spot could be Tidal’s music catalog that currently has 56 million songs, compared to just 50 million songs for Amazon Music

One bright spot could be Tidal’s music catalog that currently has 56 million songs, compared to just 50 million songs for Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers. Tidal hasn’t recently released its paid subscriber number, but as of 2016 the company touted three million users. This number has been highly disputed and estimated to be closer to one million.

With Amazon entering the picture things are likely to become even more challenging because in addition to offering exactly what Tidal has they can further incentivize subscribers with a prime membership. While the yearly growth percentages of Amazon Music’s competitors are lower, the actual number of subscribers is significantly higher, with Spotify and Apple globally at 100 million and 60 million respectively.

Situational Awareness: About 14% of subscribers to Amazon Music are aged 55 or older, compared with just 5% of Spotify’s customers, according to Midia Research data cited by FT.  This audience makes perfect sense to go after as Amazon’s Echo devices are well-suited to make life easier for older adults, and is a great differentiation from the other platforms geared towards Millennials and Generation Z.

CBx Vibe:Middle Child” J. Cole

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