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Spotify now has more than 100 million paid subscribers

Posted at 10:03 PM, Apr 29, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-29 22:03:24-04

Spotify has surpassed 100 million paid subscribers.

The streaming music service announced the milestone in its first-quarter earnings report Monday. Spotify said its premium service grew 32% year-over-year, bolstered by partnerships with Hulu, Google and Samsung.

Spotify said it has 217 million monthly global users, a leap of 26% year-over-year. Part of the increase can be attributed to its newly launched Indian service, which quickly racked up 2 million users. Spotify admitted Inda’s growth has continued to outpace the company’s expectations.

Spotify has attracted users to its premium tier by offering a number of deals, including adding Hulu at no additional charge, offering free Google Home Mini speakers and giving new users in the United States a six-month trial with the purchase of a new Samsung Galaxy S10 phone.

The promotions are partly aimed at competing against Apple, which unlike Spotify doesn’t offer a free tier. Apple CEO Tim Cook said the service had more than 50 million subscribers at the end of January — roughly half of what Spotify just announced. Apple could provide an update to its number of subscribers during its earnings report Tuesday.

Spotify predicts between 107 million to 110 million people will sign up for its paid tier by the end of 2019. In total, it expects to amass between 222 million to 228 million paid and free users by year end.

The company’s first-quarter revenue rose 33% year-over-year to $1.7 billion, beating analysts’ expectations. Spotify’s stock fell slightly Monday.