Spotify Has Almost 200 Million Active Users

As part of its most recent quarterly earnings report, Spotify revealed that it now has 191 million monthly active users, up 28 percent year-over-year.

That figure, of course, includes both paid subscribers and free, ad-supported customers. But Spotify’s paid subscriber base is also up this quarter, to 87 million subscribers, an even more impressive gain of 40 percent YOY.

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Spotify’s financials are showing signs of improvement, too: The firm posted a loss of just $6.8 million on revenues of $1.5 billion. The firm had previously lost hundreds of millions of dollars each quarter and billions of dollars over its lifetime.

That said, the current quarter may see another dip, financially: Starting today, Spotify is giving away a Google Home Mini to the primary account holder of every Family and Premium account. The deal lasts through the end of the year.

Looking ahead, Spotify expects to cross the 200 million active monthly user threshold this quarter. And it expects to have 93-96 million paid subscribers.

 

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Conversation 8 comments

  • Skolvikings

    01 November, 2018 - 9:47 am

    <p>I still prefer Spotify over Apple Music.</p>

  • jrickel96

    01 November, 2018 - 9:49 am

    <p>And still not financially solvent. They have good volume but no profitability. These streaming services really need a larger parent to sustain them and reduce some of the administrative overhead. Off their revenue figures they should be able to easily post profits of $50M+ per quarter. It's likely the royalty payments are too much to handle with the added overhead. </p><p><br></p><p>Still not sure I see Spotify remaining independent for much longer if a good offer comes in to buy. Investors will want to take the money and run.</p>

    • FalseAgent

      01 November, 2018 - 11:19 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#359297">In reply to jrickel96:</a></em></blockquote><p>that's because the major record labels have increased profits from middlemen baked into their business model. Things like syndicated TV shows are licensed as a one-off negotiated packages/deals, but music licensing is done as a percentage of how much money the licensee makes, aka 'royalties'. The more Spotify makes, the more they have to give record companies. This is why it's been so unusually challenging for them to scale their profits even as their revenue and userbase grows.</p>

  • gregsedwards

    Premium Member
    01 November, 2018 - 10:43 am

    <p>How has Microsoft not bought this company yet? Clearly, Microsoft wasn't able to grow Xbox Music/Groove into a profitable business, but Spotify certainly is on track to do so. Microsoft is also the only major consumer tech company (of Apple, Google, Amazon) without its own music store/service. They could snatch up Spotify and run it just like they have other popular brands like Minecraft, Skype, and LinkedIn, which is to say more or less independently with a guiding hand, to ensure the platform continues to develop and grow.</p><p><br></p><p>As for Groove, it's still a far better interface than Spotify, but I'd take Spotify in a heartbeat to get a world-class, cloud-powered music service back inside the Microsoft portfolio. Perhaps it could even borrow the design aesthetic from Groove and become <em>the</em> media player moving forward.</p>

    • Skolvikings

      01 November, 2018 - 2:30 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#359319">In reply to gregsedwards:</a></em></blockquote><p>Oh please no. I don't need Microsoft ruining a good thing like they've ruined Skype.</p>

  • factsomraj

    02 November, 2018 - 9:11 pm

    <p>Nice article .know more <a href="https://factsomraj.blogspot.com/2018/08/best-13-interesting-fact-about-google.html&quot; target="_blank">hidden secret of Google</a></p>

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