Apple Music is teaming up for an exclusive playlist deal with the popular Ministry of Sound music label. The first playlist is set to debut on Thursday, October 4.
The move isn’t just about helping Apple, however. It also hurts Spotify, the only other streaming music company to offer much of a challenge to Apple Music. At present, the Ministry of Sound has several popular playlists on Spotify, which will be removed from all non-Apple streaming services in the days to come.
The Ministry of Sound is the world’s largest dance music recording company, with global album sales in excess of 70 million. It is best known for its compilation albums, of which the music playlist is the latest iteration.
Apple vs. Spotify
This isn’t the first time that Apple has signed deals for exclusive playlists or tracks. For instance, it has an exclusive deal with Universal for its Peaceful Music playlist. Apple has also pushed into video content, notably through various music documentaries, available as exclusives for Apple Music subscribers.
At present, the number of people now paying a monthly music streaming subscription in the U.S. is reportedly around 51 million. Of these, Spotify and Apple Music combined dominate “at least 80 percent” of the market. Back in May, Apple announced that Apple Music has passed the 50 million active user mark. Spotify, by comparison, had around 83 million subscribers by the end of June.
While Spotify does seemingly have the slight edge in terms of numbers, it also has yet to turn a profit. Apple, on the other hand, can afford to treat Apple Music like a loss leader to get more people into the Apple ecosystem. We imagine that getting a popular music label to create exclusive playlists will help with that mission!
Source: Variety
