Skip to main content

Spotify reaches 60 million paid subscribers, remains top dog in music streaming

Spotify Reaches 60 million paid subscribers
Image used with permission by copyright holder
The world of streaming music may still have issues with profitability, but as Spotify reaches 60 million paid subscribers, it remains the fastest growing market participant in this space.

The Swedish company announced its new subscriber milestone, along with other performance metrics for the month of July, and stated that it currently has over 60 million paid monthly users. As of June, the company had over 140 million monthly users overall, though the majority of its listeners are streaming music via the company’s free tier, which includes advertisements, and which lacks mobile on-demand playback.

Recommended Videos

The streaming music service had 50 million paid subscribers in March, meaning that it gained 10 million subscribers in just four months. That means Spotify is outpacing the growth of its competitors, including Apple Music, which boasted 27 million paid subscribers as of June — a gain of about 7 million since Apple Music reached the 20 million subscriber milestone last December. Spotify operates in over 60 markets around the globe.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Spotify is currently a privately held company, but its executives are considering bringing the company public. Music streaming firms have generally remained unprofitable, with Spotify and other players in this space frequently requiring cash infusions to remain in operation, but investors may now see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Many of the financial issues facing Spotify stem from its ad-supported free tier, which the company operates at a loss in order to lure paid subscribers. Investors in the company likely hope that once it goes public, it can be transformed into a profitable enterprise by some form of re-think when it comes to the free tier, with income fueled by a increased number of paid monthly subscribers.

Steadily increasing growth on the subscriber side of the business likely has leaders of Spotify feeling a bit less of a tug at their collars from the company’s financiers, even if the company’s long-term business plan may still need a bit of adjustment to ensure that it achieves and maintains profitability.

In the meantime, the company is close to signing a new deal with Warner Music — a necessity before it goes public, according to Reuters.

Parker Hall
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Parker Hall is a writer and musician from Portland, OR. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin…
Spotify wants you to stream socially with the new custom Friends Mix playlist
Spotify app icon on iPhone.

July 30 is International Friendship Day, and Spotify is using the excuse to drop a brand new algorithmic playlist based on your friends’ listening. Available for most users (presumably if Spotify has enough data to confidently curate it), the Friends Mix uses popular listening amongst your friends on Spotify to spin up a regularly updated playlist that recommends new music similar to what you and your friends like.

This new playlist will follow a similar formula as other algorithmic offerings like the Release Radar, Discover Weekly, and Daily Mix playlists that listeners have loved for years. Now, instead of just curated music based on your listening habits, Spotify is aiming to factor in music and genres your friends love to further widen the net.

Read more
iPod hack puts 50 million Spotify songs in your pocket
ipod hack puts 50 million spotify songs in your pocket streaming device

 

When the iPod music player launched in 2001, Apple went with the slogan, “1,000 songs in your pocket.”

Read more
Netflix reveals top shows and movies as subscribers hit 200 million
Netflix button on remote control

Netflix continues to pull in plenty of users, despite intense competition from rival video streaming services.

The California-based company reported this week that it now has 203.6 million subscribers globally. This marks an increase of 8.5 million customers on the previous quarter, nearly four times what it was expecting, and an increase of 36 million on a year earlier — its highest-ever annual gain.

Read more