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Report: Amazon Is The Third-Largest Company In On-Demand Streaming Music

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There is no question that when it comes to on-demand streaming music, Spotify and Apple Music rule the industry. The two sites have long been running the show in the still-growing field, with many others lagging behind. That said, it appears that one choice that has never gotten the same level of attention is doing much better than many would have imagined.

After those two aforementioned powerhouses, there are dozens of other competitors all around the world, and some that have been able to collect sizeable subscriber numbers aren’t even available in the U.S., proving that streaming isn’t just an American moneymaker. One new report claims that while there are plenty of companies that are doing their best to compete and which may make headlines with their collaborations with big-name artists and their business decisions—Tidal, SoundCloud, Deezer and Napster are all examples—a surprising option is actually in third place when looking at the global streaming field, which is expanding every day.

MIDiA Research, a U.K.-based media and technology analysis company, claims in a recent report that Amazon now ranks third when it comes to all streaming music competitors. That’s a surprising assertion, considering the fact that Amazon, while always an industry leader when it came to selling CDs and digital tunes, didn’t appear to be doing as well as some might have expected.

Between Prime Music and Amazon Music Unlimited, the two streaming options offered by the company, the online retailer has now been able to amass a reported 16 million paid subscribers. While the offerings differ between the two different streaming brands, they are both clearly operating under the Amazon umbrella, and so the two figures are added together.

This figure is certainly impressive, though the company still has a long way to go before it catches up to larger streaming titans Apple Music and Spotify. MIDiA claims those two firms have 28 million and 58 million paying subscribers, respectively, as of last month.

The same report points out that back in 2014, Amazon’s streaming options placed fourteenth among all on-demand streamers, so the leap to third is a serious accomplishment. It will be tough for the company to advance to second or even first place, but it seems that after years of quietly building a customer base for its relatively new businesses, Amazon has succeeded in at least sticking in the game, which is more than can be said for many other conglomerates, which haven’t been able to survive in the music industry with their streaming offerings.