Spotify grows to 108M paid subscribers, 232M in total

Further raising the bar for Apple Music, Spotify on Wednesday announced that its paid Premium subscribers climbed 30% year-over-year in the June quarter to 108 million, while total listenership — including its free ad-based tier — rose 29% to 232 million.

Premium subscribers were 500,000 below analyst consensus, but overall numbers beat a consensus of 227.7 million, Reuters said. Revenue, accordingly, grew from 1.27 billion euros in Q2 2018 to 1.67 billion euros, or about $1.86 billion. The analyst average forecast had been just under $1.83 billion.

The company once again posted a net loss, but down from 394 million euros in 2018 to 76 million euros, $84.71 million. It has focused heavily on growth in 2019, for instance launching in India, South Africa, and the Middle East within just the past few months. It has also invested heavily in podcasts, for instance acquiring Anchor, Parcast, and Gimlet Media, and paying for exclusive shows.

Apple Music cracked 60 million paid subscribers in June. The service lacks a free tier beyond trials. Almost 90% of Spotify's Q2 revenue comes from Premium customers.

Apple's June-quarter services revenue grew 13% year-over-year to $11.5 billion. That includes not just Apple Music but the likes of iCloud, Apple News, Apple TV Channels, and App Store advertising.

7 Comments

davgreg 1046 comments · 9 Years

About 5 years ago

Buying Beats was a waste of money.

There is not one thing of value that came along that could not have been done better inside Apple.

They should have partnered with Spotify.

urahara 733 comments · 13 Years

davgreg said:

Buying Beats was a waste of money.

There is not one thing of value that came along that could not have been done better inside Apple.

They should have partnered with Spotify.

Waste of Money? Source?

Soli 9981 comments · 9 Years

davgreg said:

Buying Beats was a waste of money.

There is not one thing of value that came along that could not have been done better inside Apple.

They should have partnered with Spotify.

While I much prefer Spotify over Apple Music, but it's clear to ~~non-racists~~ most people that the Beats purchase was a smart purchase.

AppleExposed 1805 comments · 6 Years

davgreg said:

Buying Beats was a waste of money.

There is not one thing of value that came along that could not have been done better inside Apple.

They should have partnered with Spotify.

Because partnerships have worked so well with Apple and Spotify is such an honest company!!!

Soli said:

davgreg said:

Buying Beats was a waste of money.

There is not one thing of value that came along that could not have been done better inside Apple.

They should have partnered with Spotify.

While I much prefer Spotify over Apple Music, but it's clear to ~~non-racists~~ most people that the Beats purchase was a smart purchase.

Well Apple Music is on Spotty's A$$. 60 Million in June is more than half of Spotify's subscribers. I remember when Apple Music was less than half and then half of Spotify's subscriber.

In the long game I see Apple Music catching up though Iovine leaving was definitely bad for growth.

Even if Beats was only hardware, it still was a win for Apple and the envy of other tech companies. Beats is as cool as it gets, hardware is getting better and I believe sales are rising adding to that Wearables, Home and Accesories record revenue. I do wish they'd bring the Beats pill; back which was the people's favorite Bluetooth speaker.