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SPOTIFY HAS UPDATED its user figures and revealed it now has more than 40 million active users overall, while 10 million pay for the service.
The music streaming service, which had 6 million paid subscriber and 24 million active users in March 2013, has grown thanks to expanding into different markets over the past year, being available in 56 countries around the world.
“We’ve had an amazing year,” said Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek in a statement. “10 million subscribers is an important milestone for both Spotify and the entire music industry. We’re widening our lead in the digital music space and will continue to focus on getting everyone in the world to listen to more music.”
Spotify revealed that more than 1.5 billion playlists have been created on the site, the most streamed song with ‘Wake Me Up’ by Avicii with 235 million plays and that David Guetta is the most followed artist with more than 5 million users following him.
The company also said it paid out more than $1 billion in royalties to music rights holders since it was founded in 2008.
Those who want access to the premium version can pay €10 a month to access songs and listen to music without ads. The service has yet to make a profit, but is said to be planning to go public sometime in Autumn.
Spotify is facing increasing competition with rivals like Deezer, which has 12 million active users and 5 million paying subscribers, Pandora, Rdio and Google Play All Access also fighting for control of the music streaming market.
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Great app, took the plunge and bought a subscription few months back and haven’t looked back. Gone are the days of having to download the music and then sync it with your device
I’d rather download and keep the ten euro a month in my pocket…
I listen to a lot of small irish bands on spotify and so I enjoy supporting the artists even just a little by playing there songs. If I paid for every album on iTunes that I listen to on spotify id be broke.
Unfortunately those bands you talk about only get a pittance for your plays on spotify. If you want to support local bands I’d head down to tower and buy a CD a month instead. Spotify rips artists off
Yep, have been paying for Spotify for the past three years now since moving to the UK…well worth it (especially the playlists on my phone…love having music on my phone to listen to on the Tube!)
I started paying for it around Christmas. Not worth it for the PC version alone but if you use it on your phone then it’s well worth the investment. It’s so good!
Not for the artists its not. 0.01c per play. 1 million plays on Spotty gets the artist €1000…
Spotty is killing music….
Doesn’t Spotify have to pay to use the music? Otherwise they’d be done for pirating or copyright infringement or something.
It’s a tenner a month into the music industry from my pocket that probably wouldn’t be going there otherwise, so it’s hardly killing them. I’ll still buy the occasional CD or record if I really like an album, so I’m doing my bit.
John,
its a tenner a month to somebody, its certainly not a tenner a month to the music industry.
artists get only 1c per play.
The artist always got the short end of the stick be it CD or iTunes or whatever. We can either pay the artist 10c for a once off purchase or 1c every time we play their song. The majority of royalties always went to the record label no matter the format. By not paying for any music or music service you are not supporting the artist.
The artists typically got 13% (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23840744) compared to Spotify which pays 0.1%. So an artist that sold 1 million CD’s at €10 would get €1.3million while Spotty would pay between €1000 and €5000 depending on the number of played songs on that CD…..Now do you see the problem with Music streaming sites?
There isn’t a huge market for CDs anymore. Artists are losing money because of this. Spotify offers an alternative to pirating that puts some money back in the artists’ pocket. Spotify and its ilk are still relatively new compared to traditional formats but with its popularity increasing it would surely mean that artists can properly benefit sometime in the future – hopefully without record labels too.
10 euro a month to download as much music as you like is not overpriced, people want something for nothing these days ! Music doesn’t just materialise out of thin air.
Pete, if I was an artist like you I wouldn’t touch Spotty….artists need to make a living just like everyone else…and you wont make a penny with these sites.
Actually they do get paid for every stream. It’s the only hope for the music industry ultimately. It’s just as easy to download music illegally as it is to buy it. But streaming anything you ever want instantly is just that little bit easier.
Dave the argument that is being made by tinker is that yes artists get paid per stream of course they do but it’s minimal. A million streams = a thousand euro. Nothing. Nada. £0. So it’s great for user 10 euro for unlimited high quality limitless access to convenient hassle free music per mth but it works out fairly poor for the bys behind the guitars.
As a user I love spotify and am grateful for what an amazing service it is but with tinkers point I don’t see how artists are getting a cut eg why would mick flannery put his album up on spotify why would coldplay do it. I don’t see the incentive. Not financially anyway maybe in terms of scale and reach I really don’t know
33c per day and people think it is overpriced! I personally think it is worth every penny. I am not with Spotify but with Google Music paying €8 per month, but there is no denying that the Spotify UI is vastly superior to Google Music.
I don’t understand how people say its so expensive when a single CD album is €15. All you can listen to for a tenner a month? Bargain!
Got a deal on it for free for 3 months and €5 for 9 months…but still worth €10 per month for the use I get out of it.
Couldn’t agree more Joanna.
You are paying for
- convenience now hassle downloading sorting etc
- legality
- endless library of unlimited songs at fingertips
- portability
- high quality sound
- ability to save offline
- great hi
- fantastic functionality
- new music
- no ads
The thumbs down people for Joanna- can buying physical offer you the above? No. Is it more expensive? Yes. Can downloading offer you the above. No. Is it more expensive? No but it’s illegal, more hassle, takes up space, time, organisation.
Those who say spotify is not worth it. Really?? Look what you’re getting.
So my monthly subs are subsiding three freeloaders :P
Thanks:-)
Spotify…..Another NSA trojan horse.
Classic Frank.
I scrolled all the way to the bottom of that article Frank, and still couldn’t find the adverts for the tin-foil hats….
N O’C… You are hardly going to expect US Government.sponsorship for alternative news sites.
relax Frank, enjoy life, these conspiracy theories will kill you one day…
For a service that gives away music for free anyway I would think that getting 25% of it’s users to pay to just get rid of ads is pretty good.
It is more than the removal of ass. The Bitrate for the paid service is higher than the free version.
~96 kbps
Normal quality on mobile.
~160 kbps
Desktop and web player standard quality.
High quality on mobile.
~320 kbps (only available to Premium subscribers)
Desktop high quality.
Extreme quality on mobile.
True but the vast majority of those paying just don’t want there music interrupted by ads.
The removal of ass is a small price to pay for unlimited music John!
:)
To say that it’s overpriced is absolute madness. It’s cheaper than purchasing one physical album a month and you get unlimited access to ANY music you want! I feel bad only paying ten euro a month, knowing that a high percentage of my money isn’t going to the artists. That’s why it’s best used as a way to check out new albums before purchasing. If I like what I hear on Spotify, I take a trip into a record store and purchase a physical copy. Even at this rate, I’m probably still not spending as much as music lovers did back when downloading or streaming was not an option. Another great thing about purchasing physical copies is a sense of ownership of an album. Give it a try!
I have it on through the sonos in the back garden, praying it doesn’t rain.
You’re paying a tenner a month for something you’ll never own, with the risk of losing your playlists if anything went wrong. I use it basically as a music search engine. I find, I listen, I like, I buy. That’s supporting artists.
I seriously think a €10 is too much. Netflix is better value. Priced better I think they’d have more paying.
You have no concept of the value of money and are likely a scrounger if you think 10/mth for every song in the world at your fingertips on a portable device with a litany of more functionality .
Out of touch.
Its an overpriced service, screw that
how in hells name is it over priced?
Yes … all the music you will ever want for almost free…
But in reality ………there is no such thing as a free lunch
At least this company when/if its ipo’d or acquired will actually have some revenue.
Amazed at the lack of realisation by lots of posters here that Spotify is a total rip off for artists. Others have given you the figures. You’re paying for some hyped up service (that ripped off Deezer in the first place) who operate as an online radio station, and don’t even have permission to broadcast the artists’ work (an artist must actively request Spotify stop putting up their music). They, and Simon Cowell, are destroying good music. Spotify are just some chancers with a big advertising budget and a stolen idea. I prefer my radio free, to be honest, and if I really like an album, I’ll buy it cheaply online.
Actually its the future of the music industry but cry into your beer if you want.
David…if Spotify is the future of music then music has no future. Its amazing that people think that artists who…..spend a lifetime learning to play and pen amazing music should then have their hard work sold for 0.1c per play…meaning a worldwide hit would earn them a couple of grand. Would you work for dole pay rates?
got the free trial with every intention of switching back to the free service when my month was up…but jesus it’s very handy I think I’ll keep it! 6 skips limit is a pain!
Doesn’t work when abroad, you need to store up the music in advance
have your say