SAN FRANCISCO, March 12 ― Despite only launching six months ago, the music streaming service already has an 8 per cent market share, making it more popular than Spotify.

However, according to data from Edison Research, it still has a long way to go before it can topple Pandora. The service, with a 31 per cent market share, is by far the most popular in the US, with iHeartRadio a distant second with 9 per cent.

Spotify currently has a 6 per cent market share, putting it in fourth place, ahead of Google Play All Access, which has carved out a 3 per cent share since its launch in May 2013.

However, it's also worth noting that although it accounts for just 6 per cent, Spotify is by far the most popular service that offers on-demand listening ― i.e. the ability to cue up a specific track rather than just a genre.

The data, which is drawn from the annual “Infinite Dial” radio report, is based in part on a survey of over 2,000 US consumers aged 12 and above. Services are ranked in terms of active listeners ― those who have tuned in at least once a month ― rather than on paid subscribers, with Pandora's active user base at roughly 70 million, based on the company's most recent reports.

That would suggest that Apple currently boasts 20 million active listeners other than subscribers.

Apple's iTunes Radio went live in the US in September and, according to Apple, had been used to stream 1 billion songs by October.

Available on iOS devices and on the PC and Mac via the iTunes application, iTunes Radio has since started rolling out to other international territories. ― AFP-Relaxnews