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Spotify becomes first music service to reach 100M paying users

By Nicholas Sakelaris
Spotify's 100 million users are twice the number Apple Music has. File Photo by Monika Graff/UPI
Spotify's 100 million users are twice the number Apple Music has. File Photo by Monika Graff/UPI | License Photo

April 29 (UPI) -- Spotify said Monday it has surpassed the 100 million-user mark for its premium subscription service, becoming the first digital music service to do so.

Spotify Premium has more than tripled its subscriber base since the first quarter of 2016 when it had 30 million users, the company said. By contrast, Apple Music has 50 million subscribers worldwide -- but 28 million in the United States, compared to 26 million for Spotify.

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Counting free subscribers, Spotify said it has 217 million monthly active users worldwide.

Despite the user growth, Spotify reported a loss of $158 million the first three months of the year.

Spotify said in its earnings call Monday it's working to develop better "targeting, measurement and reporting capabilities" that would allow a podcast producer to put certain ads in content that will target the specific users. The streaming service recently acquired Gimlet Media, Anchor and Parcast. It offers 250,000 different podcasting titles.

The company has also launched in India, where it has 2 million users.

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