Spotify has missed its target for adding new subscribers as competition in the music streaming market intensifies.
The Swedish company added 8 million now paid subscribers in the latest quarter, taking its total to 108 million, but still 500,000 fewer than it had forecast. Spotify shares fell 5 per cent following the update for investors on Wednesday.
“We missed on subs. That’s on us,” Spotify’s founder and chief executive Daniel Ek said, referring to subscriber numbers. He said the company expects to “make up lost ground before year-end”.
Spotify is still the most popular music streaming service in the world, with almost double the number of paid-up members of its nearest rival Apple.
Revenue from subscribers, which accounts for around 90 per cent of Spotify’s overall revenue, rose to €1.5bn (£1.3bn) in the second quarter.
1/11 Search more accurately
You can improve the accuracy of your searches by adding extra information, such as dates, genres and albums. Adding “year:1978-1984” to your search, for instance, will exclude songs and albums from any other period of time.
You can also widen or focus your search by adding “and, “or” or “not” to it. For instance, “Kyuss AND Green” will bring up results with the keywords “Kyuss” and “Green”; “Zeppelin OR Floyd” will bring up results with the keywords “Zeppelin” or “Floyd”; and “Metallica NOT Anger” will display all Metallica tracks except ones with the word “Anger”.
You can combine search terms too, like this: “genre:pop AND year:1999”.
2/11 Running mode
Spotify’s Running mode plays music that matches your running speed. When you change pace, it will automatically adjust the music to match it.
To access it, tap Browse, scroll down to Running, select a playlist and tap Start Run.
You can also manually set the tempo, to get the music to control your pace.
3/11 Link up Shazam
You can use Spotify alongside Shazam, to identify new music, find it and play it. Once Shazam has recognised a track, you can play it in Spotify by tapping the Play in Spotify option.
Connecting your Spotify and Shazam accounts also lets you automatically save tracks to a Spotify playlist called My Shazam Tracks. In Shazam, tap My Shazam and select Connect Spotify.
4/11 Improve music quality
You can make Spotify sound better by tapping Your Library, Settings and picking between Automatic, Normal, High and Extreme in the Streaming box. Higher quality naturally uses more data, so beware of choosing the top option if you’re on a limited data plan.
5/11 Connect with Uber
You can control the music in an Uber on the iPhone version of the app by linking it to your Spotify Premium account. If you match with a driver who has connected music, you’ll see a Music bar at the bottom of the screen. Tap it, log into your account, connect to the car’s speakers and play.
6/11 Collaborative playlists
You can collaborate on playlists with your friends – who’ll be able to add, delete and reorder tracks – by tapping Your Library and Playlists, selecting a playlist and then hitting the options button and Make Collaborative.
You can also put group playlists together in group chats on Facebook Messenger, by tapping the + symbol, choosing Spotify and clicking Create under Group Playlists.
7/11 Save songs for offline
A Premium subscription lets you download music to listen to offline, and you’re allowed to save up to 3,333 songs per device, on a maximum of three different devices.
In order to be able to download tracks over a cellular connection, you’ll need to tap Your Library and Settings, and switch the option on. Whenever you’re online, you can then save tracks for offline listening by tapping Download.
8/11 Add music that’s not on Spotify
You can also use the app as an all-in-one media player for playing tracks that aren’t actually available on Spotify. To be able to play any mp3 and mp4 music files you have stored on your computer through the app, go to Settings and Local Files on Spotify for desktop.
9/11 Discover music
One of Spotify’s best tools for finding new music to listen to is Discover Weekly, a roundup of songs based on what you and other people with similar tastes have been listening to. It refreshes every Monday, so save any tracks you like to your Library before they vanish by tapping the + button.
Also well worth a look are Release Radar, Daily Mix, Time Capsule and Spotify Radio.
10/11 Podcasts and videos
Spotify isn’t just for songs. It’s also home to podcasts and videos, which you can find on the Browse page.
11/11 Find concerts
You can quickly find shows taking place near you and concerts picked for you, based on what you’ve been listening to, by visiting Browse and Concerts. If you find something you like, you can also purchase tickets here.
1/11 Search more accurately
You can improve the accuracy of your searches by adding extra information, such as dates, genres and albums. Adding “year:1978-1984” to your search, for instance, will exclude songs and albums from any other period of time.
You can also widen or focus your search by adding “and, “or” or “not” to it. For instance, “Kyuss AND Green” will bring up results with the keywords “Kyuss” and “Green”; “Zeppelin OR Floyd” will bring up results with the keywords “Zeppelin” or “Floyd”; and “Metallica NOT Anger” will display all Metallica tracks except ones with the word “Anger”.
You can combine search terms too, like this: “genre:pop AND year:1999”.
2/11 Running mode
Spotify’s Running mode plays music that matches your running speed. When you change pace, it will automatically adjust the music to match it.
To access it, tap Browse, scroll down to Running, select a playlist and tap Start Run.
You can also manually set the tempo, to get the music to control your pace.
3/11 Link up Shazam
You can use Spotify alongside Shazam, to identify new music, find it and play it. Once Shazam has recognised a track, you can play it in Spotify by tapping the Play in Spotify option.
Connecting your Spotify and Shazam accounts also lets you automatically save tracks to a Spotify playlist called My Shazam Tracks. In Shazam, tap My Shazam and select Connect Spotify.
4/11 Improve music quality
You can make Spotify sound better by tapping Your Library, Settings and picking between Automatic, Normal, High and Extreme in the Streaming box. Higher quality naturally uses more data, so beware of choosing the top option if you’re on a limited data plan.
5/11 Connect with Uber
You can control the music in an Uber on the iPhone version of the app by linking it to your Spotify Premium account. If you match with a driver who has connected music, you’ll see a Music bar at the bottom of the screen. Tap it, log into your account, connect to the car’s speakers and play.
6/11 Collaborative playlists
You can collaborate on playlists with your friends – who’ll be able to add, delete and reorder tracks – by tapping Your Library and Playlists, selecting a playlist and then hitting the options button and Make Collaborative.
You can also put group playlists together in group chats on Facebook Messenger, by tapping the + symbol, choosing Spotify and clicking Create under Group Playlists.
7/11 Save songs for offline
A Premium subscription lets you download music to listen to offline, and you’re allowed to save up to 3,333 songs per device, on a maximum of three different devices.
In order to be able to download tracks over a cellular connection, you’ll need to tap Your Library and Settings, and switch the option on. Whenever you’re online, you can then save tracks for offline listening by tapping Download.
8/11 Add music that’s not on Spotify
You can also use the app as an all-in-one media player for playing tracks that aren’t actually available on Spotify. To be able to play any mp3 and mp4 music files you have stored on your computer through the app, go to Settings and Local Files on Spotify for desktop.
9/11 Discover music
One of Spotify’s best tools for finding new music to listen to is Discover Weekly, a roundup of songs based on what you and other people with similar tastes have been listening to. It refreshes every Monday, so save any tracks you like to your Library before they vanish by tapping the + button.
Also well worth a look are Release Radar, Daily Mix, Time Capsule and Spotify Radio.
10/11 Podcasts and videos
Spotify isn’t just for songs. It’s also home to podcasts and videos, which you can find on the Browse page.
11/11 Find concerts
You can quickly find shows taking place near you and concerts picked for you, based on what you’ve been listening to, by visiting Browse and Concerts. If you find something you like, you can also purchase tickets here.
However, the company faces renewed challenges, not least from Google and Amazon, which have both recently launched free versions of their own music streaming services.
Google and Amazon deliver music streaming through their respective smart speakers and are hoping to use their hardware offerings to quickly increase subscriber numbers.
The set-up has upset Spotify. Earlier this year it filed a complaint with the European Commission against Apple, accusing the company of stifling competition to the detriment of consumers. Spotify argued that Apple makes it difficult for third-party streaming services to establish themselves on devices like the iPhone and iPad.
Purchases of apps and subscriptions on Apple devices must be paid for through Apple’s payment system. Apple takes a 30 per cent cut of these payments, including for Spotify’s premium service, which Spotify claims gives its rival an unfair price advantage.
