Apple's iTunes Radio now the third most popular streaming music service in the U.S.

A survey conducted by Edison Research and Statista shows that less than 6 months after launch, Apple's iTunes Radio is the third most popular streaming music service in the U.S. Still, Apple's music streaming app still trails leader Pandora by a fairly large margin. 31% of Americans age 12 or higher listen to Pandora. That translates into 80 million members for the number one site.

Runner-up is iHeart Radio with 9% of America's streaming music fans using the service. Apple's iTunes Radio, now with 20 million users, leaped over Spotify to take third place with 8% of the market. Spotify now resides in fourth place with a 6% slice of the pie. After Spotify, there is a pretty large drop off. Google All Access has a 3% share followed by Rhapsody, Slacker and TuneIn Radio, all with a 2% slice of the pie.

While Pandora might be the most popular streaming radio service, it's music library consists of only 800,000 tunes. That could explain why the company bathed in $40.7 million dollars of red ink last year, and expects further losses for the next year or two. Radio broadcasting giant Clear Channel owns iHeart Radio which gives it access to 800 radio stations, and lets it get away with paying lower royalty payments. Apple's iTunes Radio has a song library of 15 million titles. This could be Apple's game to win over time.


source: Statista,MacRumors via Fortune