New Delhi, Jan 21 (IANS): Swedish streaming giant Spotify still leads the global base of music subscribers but its share in the digital service provider (DSP) streaming market has been slowly declining since the past three years, according to a new report.

In Q2 2021, Spotify owned 31 per cent of the global DSP streaming market -- down from 33 per cent in 2020 and 34 per cent in 2019.

With Apple Music being a distant second with 15 per cent market share, and Spotify adding more subscribers in the 12 months leading up to Q2 2021 than any other single DSP, there is no risk of Spotify losing its leading position anytime soon.

But the erosion of its (Spotify's) share is steady and persistent, according to entertainment research firm MIDiA.

"Amazon Music once again out-performed Spotify in terms of growth (25 per cent compared to 20 per cent), but the standout success story among Western DSPs was YouTube Music, for the second successive year," said Mark Mulligan of MIDiA.

The data revealed that the global base of music subscribers continues to grow strongly with 523.9 million music subscribers at the end of Q2 2021, which was up by 109.5 million (26.4 per cent) from one year earlier.

Google was once the laggard of the space, but the launch of YouTube Music has transformed its fortunes, growing by more than 50 per cent in the 12 months leading up to Q2 2021.

YouTube Music was the only Western DSP to increase global market share during this period.

However, the biggest subscriber growth came from emerging markets.

Between them, Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) and NetEase Cloud Music added 35.7 million subscribers in the 12 months leading up to Q2 2021.A

"The strong growth in subscribers holds an extra meaning going into 2022. The surge in non-DSP streaming in 2021 means that the streaming market is no longer dependent on the revenue contribution of maturing Western subscriber markets," Mulligan informed.