New figures released by app analytics firm App Annie show that mobile users are more likely than ever to pay for music services by way of in-app purchases.
Looking at figures from August, streaming music offerings from Spotify, Pandora and Beats Music were among the top earning apps in terms of revenue.
Spotify had an impressive month, particularly in the iOS App Store where it leaped up to No. 7 on the chart, versus No. 14 one month before. Spotify began selling in-app subscriptions at the end of June.
Pandora meanwhile came in at an even more impressive No.2 for iOS, as well as on Google Play, where it rose three places from its previous No. 5 spot. Boasting an impressive 250+ million registered users and more than 76 million monthly listeners, the importance of in-app purchases has been described as a “significant” driver in subscription growth, according to CFO Mike Herring.
Finally the Apple-owned Beats Music app rose to the No. 9 position on the iOS App Store chart. While it’s likely that this relates to the increased interest in paying for music through an in-app purchase subscription model, it’s also worth noting that Beats Music has received prominent placement in the App Store.
Recent reports suggest that Apple will be changing the name of Beats Music with the aim of keeping the Beats brand hardware only. The addition of in-app purchases for Beats Music was added in April, one month before the service was acquired by Apple.
Interestingly Apple has been moving away from promoting the in-app purchase model for certain apps. At this year’s WWDC, all the games given awards by Apple fell under the premium rather than freemium model. Last year Apple refunded more than 37,000 in-app purchases parents had claimed were unauthorized, with the FTC announcing that Apple would refund $32.5 million to customers as part of the settlement.
Source: Billboard
