Spotify Delivers a Loss as Subscriber Base Hits 696 Million

Spotify reported a net loss of €86 million on revenues of €4.2 billion in the quarter ending June 30, 2025. But its subscriber base grew more than expected.

“Our business delivered healthy results in Q2, led by MAU [monthly average user] and subscriber outperformance, Y/Y [year-over-year] profitability improvement, and strong free cash flow generation,” the Spotify shareholder deck for the financial results notes. “The business added 18 million MAU in Q2 vs. guidance for 11 million, while subscriber net additions of 8 million exceeded guidance by 3 million.”

As Spotify notes there, it added 12 million users overall in the quarter, with growth of 11 percent YOY to 696 million. Of those, 278 million are premium subscribers, up 12 percent YOY, and 423 million are ad-supported users, up 10 percent YOY.

Spotify’s premium subscribers generated most of the company’s revenues, as always, with €3.74 billion in revenues, a gain of 12 percent YOY. Ad-supported users contributed the remaining €419 million in revenues, a decline of 10 percent YOY.

Spotify blamed “Social Charges,” higher payroll taxes, and related expense and revenue mix shifts for the loss. In Spotify-lingo, Social Charges is defined as payroll taxes associated with employee salaries and benefits, and this figure was €98 million more than expected because of share price growth in the quarter. This is a one-time, non-predictable problem. But Spotify’s stock price fell 11 percent in the morning regardless.

“People come to Spotify, and they stay on Spotify,” Spotify found and CEO Daniel Ek said. “By constantly evolving, we create more and more value for the almost 700 million people using our platform. “This value not only benefits users but it’s attracting more people to streaming, and as a result, it’s also boosted the industries of music, podcasts, and audiobooks.”