Spotify records 500 million monthly active users for first time
According to the company’s latest financial results, over half a billion people are using Spotify every month. Compared to last year, that’s an increase of 22 per cent. Spotify has said that user growth exceeded its expected increase of 15 million. As CEO Daniel Ek observed, the results represent the service’s second-largest quarter of user growth in the company’s history.
Paid Spotify subscriptions are also up by 15 per cent. These milestones come after the audio streaming service announced a quarter of streamlining and cost-cutting. In January, it was confirmed that six per cent of Spotify’s global workforce would be laid off – a move expected to impact nearly 600 staff members.
As part of today’s earnings release, Spotify reported a net loss of $284 million (£232m) in the first quarter of 2023. Average revenue per user also fell by one per cent to $4.77 (£3.85). The fall is likely the result of the discounts Spotify has been using to attract customers in new markets.
Two years, Spotify announced plans to launch a Hi-Fi tier. This recent earnings release fails to mention this, however. It’s believed that the tier is ready from a technical standpoint but that Spotify’s plans to charge extra for the higher-quality tier were undermined by Apple and Amazon, who are offering lossless streams at no extra cost.
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