Apple Music is slightly less than a month old and seemingly off to a great start – at least according to the folks from Hits Daily Double (via 9to5Mac) and their “inside sources at some of the major labels.” Apple has not made the numbers public but has purportedly shared subscriber numbers with music labels under non-disclosure agreements. And how many have signed up for Apple Music? As many as 10 million says the sources.

This puts a finer point on what little information Apple CEO Tim Cook was willing to divulge during the company’s latest earnings call. According to Cook, “Millions and millions are using the trial period; the numbers grow substantially every day.”

The sources also added that streaming numbers on some albums are so high as to be competitive with Spotify – especially when it comes to “a couple of cutting-edge hip-hop titles.”

Notably, all 10 million of these Apple Music subscribers are currently almost a month into their three-month free trial period. It remains to be seen how many will remain once that free trial period runs out and they have to start paying at least $9.99 per month.

Rival Spotify touts 75 million users of which only 20 million are paid subscribers. Apple Music does not offer a free plan, although some limited functionality is available for non-subscribers signed in with their Apple ID, so it stands to reason its conversion rate may be higher as users really have no other options other than to pay up or leave.

This writer would certainly like to see statistics on how many Apple Music trial members have turned off Apple Music auto-renewal in iOS and iTunes after realizing that Apple would automatically charge them at the end of the trial. That may give us some indication of what the Apple Music’s conversion rate may be.

Apple Music’s launch has not been without hiccups and its share of bad press. As 9to5Mac points out, early adopters experienced a slew of issues early on and the service was also hampered by iTunes outages at one point.

Jim Dalrymple, a self-professed lover of Apple, called Apple Music a “nightmare” in a blog post. Meanwhile, a poll run by 9to5Mac shows that 53 percent of respondents think Apple Music is “too buggy” and should have been released as a beta.

Apple is reportedly planning a big Apple Music marketing push, starting with a number of TV spots in conjunction with the upcoming MTV Music Awards.

Image credit: Fe Ilya, Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0