Spotify reaches 100 million paid subscribers

Anca Alexe 30/04/2019 | 10:04

Spotify has reached the landmark of 100 million paying subscribers, as it faces significant competition from other tech firms like Apple, Google or Amazon.

The number of users paying for Spotify increased by 32 percent in the first quarter of 2019 compared to Q1 2018, the Swedish company said.

Spotify listed on the New York Stock Exchange a little more than a year ago and has a market value of about USD 25 billion. It said its numbers were bolstered by a better-than-expected performance in North America, its second biggest market.

Since launching in India in February, Spotify has gained 2 million users in the country, where it launched with an ad-supported option and a monthly subscription costing USD 1.67, the cheapest rate it offers anywhere. Spotify costs USD 9.99 in the US and GBP 9.99 in the UK.

The service still has more non-paying users, who have to listen to ads between songs, but the paying subscriptions provide more than 90 percent of the company’s earnings.

Read more: The best Spotify promotion service

Total revenues in the first quarter of 2019 reached EUR 1.5 billion – a year-on-year increase of about a third. But Spotify also had an operating loss of EUR 47 million, after having made a profit of EUR 94 million in Q4 2018.

In 2018, global music revenues grew at the fastest rate in more than two decades to $19.1bn, the highest level of income since 2006, when CD sales accounted for more than 80% of its worldwide revenues.