Spotify Membership Continues Its Steady Climb

Source: REUTERS/Christian Hartmann/File Photo

Spotify announced yesterday through Twitter that their number of paying subscribers has officially hit 70 million. The milestone suggests that Spotify is steadily continuing to grow its lead over its next closest rival Apple Music. Apple Music revealed that its music subscription service had "well over 30 million subscribers" in September of 2017. The combined growth of market leaders Spotify and Apple Music demonstrates a shift in the way people consume their music- away from outright purchases towards flat fee based subscriptions. 

The two leaders offer similar services with slight differences in delivery methods. Apple Music chooses to focus on exclusives and marketing to attract new subscribers while Spotify uses a free version (that comes with ads) to enable them to price their full service lower. The subscriber update unveiled by Spotify indicates that membership growth is increasing steadily. Membership increased from 40 million to 50 million in close to five months and from 50 million to 60 million in a similar time frame. Spotify passed 60 million at the end of July which means the update yesterday continues their trend of growing at around 10 million subscribers every five months. 

The International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI) announced that the global market for recorded music in 2016 saw its quickest rise in two decades (5.9%). Streaming revenue also saw large growth as the IFPI recorded a 60 percent growth. 

Additional Note: Spotify has reportedly recently filed documents with the SEC indicating its planning a direct stock market listing. 

Click here to read about Spotify's subscription update and here to read about the music streaming industry.