Music

Spotify reaches 100m paying subscribers worldwide


Spotify has reached 100 million paying subscribers, in a landmark for the music streaming service as it faces competition from major tech firms.

The number of users willing to pay for the service rose by 32% in the first quarter of 2019 compared with a year earlier, Spotify said on Monday.

The Swedish company, which listed on the New York Stock Exchange just over a year ago, said it was bolstered by a better-than-expected performance in North America, its second biggest market.

Spotify is in the middle of a battle for market share with music streaming competitors with deep pockets, including Google’s Play Music and YouTube Music brands, Amazon and Tidal, the service owned by Jay-Z, Beyoncé and other stars. Last month Spotify filed a complaint against Apple with European regulators, alleging that the US tech firm limits choice and competition in its app store, giving its own music streaming service an unfair advantage over rivals.

The Swedish company, whose market value of about $25bn (£19bn) makes it one of Europe’s few large tech successes, has invested heavily in acquiring new users.

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In March it agreed a deal with Samsung, the world’s largest phone producer, to pre-install its app on devices, and extended a promotion including Google’s Home Mini smart speaker to the UK and France. Meanwhile, Spotify has gained 2 million users in India after launching there in February.

Free users, who listen to adverts between songs, still outnumbered paying subscribers at the end of the quarter, but the premium tier provides more than 91% of Spotify’s earnings.

In total, Spotify made revenues of €1.5bn (£1.3bn) in the first three months of the year, an increase of a third year on year. Despite the increasing revenues, Spotify swung back to an operating loss of €47m for the quarter – after making an operating profit of €94m in the final three months of 2018.



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