Tim Cook: Apple Music has 6.5 million paid subscribers

Getty Images/Stephen Lam

Apple CEO Tim Cook

Just under one month since Apple's Music's 90-day free trials began ending, Apple currently has 6.5 million paid subscribers, Tim Cook said at the WSJD conference hosted by the Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, 8.5 million people are still in the free trial phase, meaning that about 15 million people are using the music streaming service total.

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This is the first time we've heard the number of paid subscribers. It is also an increase from the 11 million trial subscribers that Apple announced in early August.

Spotify, on the other hand, hit 20 million paying users back in June, with over 75 million active users. Because Apple only offers a paid service - it's $9.99 per month or $14.99 for a family plan - it's that 20 million that Apple's more interested in beating.

"The runway here is really good," he said.

When talking about what he loved about Apple Music, Cook said that it "brings the art back to music."

"The guy that's singing outside on the street isn't being discovered anymore, or the guy in the bar that you went to," he said, adding that Apple Music is trying to change that:

"Personally, i'm discovering a whole lot more music than I was before."

Cook declined to shed light on the number of smart watches sold.

"We announce more numbers than any company alive," he said. "But on the watch… we're looking at this and saying, this is competitive information."