In just six months, Apple Music has achieved a major milestone, surpassing 10 million paying subscribers, reports the Financial Times. It launched its streaming music service on June 30.

In comparison, Spotify has over 20 million subscribers and 75 million active users. It took Spotify about six years to reach 10 million paying subscribers, so Apple is ahead of the game. Another advantage Apple has over Spotify is that Spotify is available in 58 markets, and Apple is in 100.

In the Financial Times article, Mark Milligan, a music industry analyst for Midia Research, said that its current growth rate had the potential to make Apple the top music subscription service in 2017.

“It’s good news that Apple is making streaming work, but it is also going to accelerate the decline of downloads,” said Milligan.

Apple Music may be popular among subscribers, but it isn’t without its problems. Since its launch, users have complained online about numerous problems including not being able to log in, Apple Music freezing, radio stations not working, music not syncing or downloading, etc. It seems that additional iOS updates compound the problem.

Insider Take:

Apple has the brand recognition, technology, customer base and marketing savvy to be successful as a streaming music service, not to mention that it was a forerunner in the online music world with its launch of iTunes in 2001 and the iTunes store in 2003. There are other reasons that have contributed to Apple Music’s success, however.

• A three-month free trial gives users the chance to use and test Apple Music to see if it gives them the music and features they want. It also gives users a chance to get hooked.
• Apple Music can be listened to online or off, a feature not all streaming music services offer.
• iOS users can ask Siri to curate music for them.
• Subscribers can view top songs, albums and videos in the New tab.
• Subscribers can share radio stations and songs.
• Subscribers can search songs that you’ve listened to recently.

Apple Music has a lot of features you can’t get with other services for the same price, giving it a competitive advantage. Apple will, however, need to fix its host of problems for its subscribers or they will eventually drop off. How it handles complaints and addresses the problems in future updates will be important to its continued growth.

Serving up a better user experience won’t be enough though. As a leading brand, Apple needs to step up its game. People expect more from Apple and need an incentive to switch to Apple Music. With so many streaming music services in the market including Spotify, Pandora and Tidal, the industry is growing more competitive. How many streaming music services do people really need, and why should they choose Apple? Apple needs to be sure it can answer those questions.