Spotify counts 158 million subscribers; plans to increase subs prices in 12 markets

By Emmanuel Legrand

Spotify finished the first quarter of the year with 356 million monthly active users (MAU), up 24% year-on-year, and with 158 million subscribers globally, up 2% y-o-y. 

  Revenues were up 16% to €2.14 billion, with premium subscription generating €1.93bn (up 14%), and advertising-supported revenue at €216m (up 46%).

  During the quarter, Spotify added 11 million MAUs, with meaningful contributions from markets such as the US, Mexico, Russia, and India. The music streaming service also added 4 million new paid subscribers. 

Big push in South Korea

  "In Latin America, we saw out-performance driven by the continued success of our Family Plan product," said the company. "We are pleased with the new market contributions, with South Korea being the biggest driver."

  Spotify also announced that it would increase its subscription prices in 12 markets, including the US and the UK. In a call with analysts, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said the decision was based on an assessment of the price elasticity of the market and consumer reactions.

  “We focused on our business and the data that we're seeing," said Ek. "It's very, very clear and very, very compelling data, which is we see enormous amounts of engagement with our consumer, and it's been growing year-over-year-over-year as we've been improving the proposition, both in terms of better personalisation, better features, but obviously expanding the content library significantly with the addition of podcasting and exclusives as well."

Launching an in-car player

  He added: “So on the back of that, we feel very comfortable about doing that. And you should obviously look at our expansion of these price increases as that we see the strategy working.”

  Spotify also made its first move in the device business, with the launch of an in-car player, named Car Thing, which will launch in the US first with and anticipated retail price of $79.99. "I think you should look at Car Thing as a way of us full stack going in and re-imagining what the user experience in the car for the next-gen car entertainment system should look like. This is our version of that," said Ek.

  “You can now use that as your in-car entertainment system instead of the antiquated radio systems that most people have in the car. And early results are just very, very encouraging. It seems like we've really struck a chord with what consumers want.”