Spotify Expands to 10 Million Subscribers, Sill Lagging Behind iTunes and YouTube
Spotify reported Wednesday that it has expanded to 10 million paying subscribers.
The Anglo-Swedish company, which was founded in 2006, said a quarter of its 40 million users are paying subscribers. The popular online music streaming company is now available in a total of 56 countries.
The new statistics, which were reported earlier in May by The Wall Street Journal, are the first update of user metrics since March 2013.
The new data proves that the company is growing at a steady pace, but is still lagging behind bigger online entertainment brands such as iTunes, Netflix and YouTube's video service. YouTube has more than 1 billion unique monthly visitors, and iTunes has 800 million registered accounts.
Even so, the new metrics prove that Spotify is one of the biggest new entertainment providers online, along with Pandora and SoundCloud. Spotify said it is now the second-largest source of revenue for the digital music industry for European record labels, and is the largest global music streaming service.
Spotify has grown since it entered the United States' market three years ago. The company was one of the first music services to have a subscription to play unlimited music.
Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek said that he wants Spotify in every market, including Russia and Japan.
Yet, while the company has grown, its losses have increased: the company lost $80.8 million last year while revenue doubled.
The company receives most of its revenue from paid users who pay $10 a month for a subscription. Seventy percent of Spotify's costs are comprised of music licensing fees to record companies, artists and license holders, with the company paying a fee based on the number of times a song is played.
Spotify, which was valued at $4 billion as of November 2013, has also expanded its free, ad-based service aimed at younger listeners.
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