Universal Music Group admits a slow-down in subscriber growth rate for Apple Music and competitors

Universal Music Group, the world's biggest music label, is now acknowledging for the first time that there is slow growth for Apple Music and other streaming services. According to the label, this is a temporary slow-down, but some people in the industry think it's more likely a permanent thing.

Apple Music subscriber numbers haven't been publicly updated by the Cupertino company since the now super-distant 2019. This is when the number of subs hit 60M. Basically, the company has been announcing milestones every 10M subs, which pretty much could mean that in 2024, Apple Music subscribers may still be below 70M.

It's not just Apple Music though. Spotify and Amazon Music also seem to be experiencing a slower growth rate, but the music industry has so far not acknowledged this.

Universal Music Group acknowledged the issue after its announcement of disappointing revenue from music streaming services. As a result, UMG shares fell as much as 30% in response, with investors getting worried.

UMG seems the slow-down is temporary, but it's also possible that streaming of music has exited its high-growth era and is now setting into a slower-growth area.

I personally believe that the latter is more likely to be the case. I can imagine many people who wanted to stream music using one of these services may already have an account, so new subs additions may be getting slower because of this.