Spotify Is Now 100 Million Stronger

Spotify is now 100 million strong.

Spotify boasts 100m paying subscribers on global expansion

The streaming music giant Monday said it now has 100 million paying subscribers — double that of chief rival Apple Music, which reported 50 million paying subscribers in January.

The 100 million paying users were up from 75 million last year and narrowly beat out analyst expectations of 99 million paying users.

Spotify also reported 217 million monthly active users in March — an increase from last year’s 173 million.

The results, released with the Swedish company’s earnings Monday, helped give Spotify some breathing room after it was dethroned in the US earlier this month by Apple. Since launching Apple Music in 2015, the tech giant has accumulated 28 million paying subscribers compared to Spotify’s 26 million.

But Spotify has far more subscribers globally and has been branching out into new markets including India, where it boasted a million new users in its first week.

Europe contributed 40% of the total paid subscribers, followed by North America with 30%.

Spotify Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek reiterated the company’s plans to “keep on growing at more than 30% per year,” referring to revenue and users. “Competition is just not a big factor for us, it’s really all about growth,” he said on a conference call after the release of the quarterly results.

First quarter revenue rose 33% to $1.7 billion, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.6 billion. The company’s stock lost its early gains, however, on an $.88-per-share loss for the quarter — far below Wall Street’s predictions for a loss of 39 cents per share.

The streaming service’s shares traded largely flat on the news, down 0.4% Monday afternoon, at $137.64.

Source: Nypost