Spotify has reached a new subscriber record as the service has recently announced that there are over 100 million paying subscribers. The increase is quite sizeable in comparison to the previous year. It is estimated that the biggest rival, Apple Music, has 50 million paying subscribers.
The figure, which was achieved within the first quarter of the year, is a significant milestone for Spotify as the company aimed to consolidate the paid user base in the long run. The Swedish company offers an audio streaming platform which grants users access to DRM-secured music and various podcasts from a variety of content creators and record labels. The service was launched in October 2008 and attracted a large number of users from the start.
More than forty million tracks are now available, and a variety of criteria like artist, genre or album can be used to sort and navigate through the content. One of the most popular features comes in the form of the ability to create and customize playlists.
Spotify reaches a new subscriber record – 100 million subscribers
The service is available across a large selection of platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux PCs and smartphones and other devices which run Android or iOS. More than 217 million active users enjoy the service each month, and current data suggest that the number will continue to increase in the future.
Two tiers are available: a basic tier, which is accessible for free after an account is created and a premium tier which requires a monthly subscription. While the basic tier offers access to a large amount of content there are several limitations in place: users have to use the shuffle feature if they want to listen to an album, a limited number of skips is available for a playlist, ads can be heard from time to time and others.
As streaming services continue to become more popular, it is likely that new competitors will appear in the future, but Spotify has already managed to capture a large segment of the market.
