Apple CEO Tim Cook is happy with the whopping number of subscribers on Apple Music, a music streaming service. The paid subscription has reached 13 million. Early in February this year it was announced that the subscription reaches 11 million. Which means in a matter of three months it increase by 2 million paid subscribers. The growth is incredible giving that the app is available for the iPhone. It takes Apple to the second place after Spotify that has 30 million paid subscribers to their credit. It may be mentioned that Spotify has been around for a long time now.

Following closely is TIDAL, owned by Jay-Z music service. It got a boost with their exclusive right acquired for Beyonce’s latest album Lemonade. Until March 2016, there were only 3 million subscribers. Apple has to its credit a limited deal exclusively with Drake for his latest album, titled Views From the 6. This is deemed to attract more users and can keep the subscriptions coming for Apple Music. Meanwhile Tim Cook mentioned that Apple Music is the first of Apple’s subscription business. It may be noted that Apple has offered iCloud services for a monthly storage plan for a few years now.

Apple Music has made its way to over 100 countries, and it is all set to celebrate its first anniversary in June 2015. Apple Music is predicted to hit the 15 million mark gaining prominence over Spotify that has a subscription of over 20 million and around 75 million active users just weeks before Apple Music was launched. Apple is promoting Apple Music with exclusive releases and artist videos from Drake, Taylor Swift and more. It also plans to debut a TV show with ace star Dr. Dre. Apple music is right now priced at $9.99 per month and $14.99 for a family of six users.

The success of Apple is seen with the music company attaching more credit cards to the iTunes account. This makes it easier for customers to make a subscription to Apple services and make a purchase of Apple content. The impressive growth of Apple Music is steady and is in the right direction.

Read also – Prince’s Music Soon To Top Piracy List

Legendary musician, Prince died on Thursday; he was 57. The artist’s work was searched like crazy after news of his death in connection to celebrate his work and life. But the bad news is that people have chosen the wrong route by torrenting his work. It may be noted that Prince’s work is soon to Top the chart on Torrenting site like The Pirate Bay. Among his works the albums controversy and 1999 have reached the top ranks. Prince’s discography is listed 12 on the listing. It is unfortunate to note the people have decided to torrent his music, despite the artist being a staunch adversary of piracy and digital music. It may be mentioned here that Prince tried to sue Pirate Bay in three countries in the year 2007, but the cases were left unattended.

In another incident Prince sued 22 fans for posting his live concert online for $22 million, this case also was not pursued. It is sad to note that the artist who is an ardent opponent of pirated music is no more there to see his works being pirated. The artist would be pained and saddened at this if he were alive today. Despite this, his music is available on Pirate Bay and other torrenting websites contrary to what the artist would have liked. His ardent fans are not keeping his legacy alive but instead are doing exactly opposite of what he would have wanted to happen. True fans of Prince should not be part of this piracy war and ensure his legacy is kept alive.

Prince’s albums are available for streaming on TIDAL including 1999, 1989 Batman soundtrack and Purple Rain. Tidal offers these videos at $9.99 per month and you can sign up for a 30 day trial for free. The music is available on iTunes and Amazon as well for those music lovers who want to keep the artists values alive.

Read also – Youtube Gets Into Digital Asset Creation Business

YouTube will be investing a whopping amount to give the artists a career boost. It is speculated that the venture is a digital asset creation. This came into existence after Apple Music created checkbook to fund the blockbuster videos and music productions for Coldplay, The 1975 and Drake. Now it is clear where all the money is moving. To begin with YouTube started small by making videos of upcoming artists through a training initiative named Foundry. The Foundry Workshops are created with upcoming music talent located in London and LA. The live videos will be broadcast on YouTube this week.

Similarly, another Foundry session is likely to be held in New York with upcoming artists that include The Chicago Kid and Germaine of R&B act. This is just the beginning of YouTube’s initiative. The online company has kickstarted talks with leading music business companies in the future weeks and will discuss deeper about the collaboration. During the meeting, it is expected YouTube will chalk out ways to promote the artists in a better way using their exclusive videos.

Artists will be provided with loads of benefits like the opportunity to promote their video on Web TV series in exchange for services rendered towards YouTube’s initiative. Apart from these benefits, YouTube will be providing the artists with post production and video production resources to shoot their videos. This will lead to YouTube opening their original channel to the music talent. The Original shows will collaborate TV-style production values, hi-spec and amateur broadcasting personalities like Lilly Singh and PewDiePie.

Now the question remains which figures YouTube is targeting. YouTube is all set to make it mammoth resources available to fuel the promotions of the record industry. Early this year YouTube acquired the $8m BandPage that is more related to the fans. YouTube will target the leading artists by offering all resources to create their exclusive videos, and even exclusive YouTube shows clubbed with promotion commitment and extensive marketing.

Despite the strategy, YouTube may find it tough to neutralize the intimidation of Apple Music. Spotify and TIDAL. YouTube is also negotiating with Universal Music Group with their long-term licensing deal as the previous deal has expired.