The company says that Apple has “raised the profile of streaming.”

Spotify’s business has grown faster since the launch of Apple Music in June than in the period that preceded it, one of the company’s executives has said.

Speaking to Reuters, Spotify vice president Jonathan Forster said: “It’s great that Apple is in the game. They are definitely raising the profile of streaming. It is hard to build an industry on your own.”

“Since Apple Music started we’ve been growing quicker and adding more users than before.”

Forster’s claims are backed up by Spotify’s figures. The company, which launched in 2008, recently reached the milestone of 30 million paid subscribers – a third more than the 20 million it cited when Apple Music launched in June 2015.

“It would be terrible if we were just taking each other’s users or to learn there was just a ceiling of 100 million users – I don’t think that is the case,” he continued.

Spotify’s paid user base has increased more over the past year than in any other, but Apple Music has gained more users in the same period. Last month, the company announced it had gained 13 million paid subscribers since June.

Apple Music isn’t the only new rival Spotify has had to face in the past 12 months. SoundCloud launched its SoundCloud Go service in March, though Forster doesn’t believe the market can support many large services.

“My Internet history would tell me that there’s probably not going to be that many significant players, and then maybe smaller niche cases … maybe there could be a classical music streaming service,” he said. “It’s a hard business.”

Spotify last year expanded into video streaming to keep its business competitive,  a strategy that was was bolstered yesterday (May 9) with the announcement that the company is launching 12 original video series.

Programming includes a mockumentary-style series from Tim Robbins and a series called Landmark, which documents significant moments in music history featuring acts such as The Beach Boys and Metallica.

An increase in subscribers isn’t where all of Spotify’s money comes from. In March it was reported the company has raised $1 billion to build its business in the wake of Apple Music’s launch.