Spotify has now reached 158 million paying customers. The music streaming manager grew in Q1 – 3% of total customers over Q4, 2% for paying customers over Q4 and 21% year over year. Revenue increased by 16%.
Spotify predicts it will soon reach over 162 million paying users despite recently announced price increases in US, UK and Europe – $ 1 increase for US family customers, £ 1 increase for UK students and Duo users, £ 2 for family users . EU customers will see an increase of € 1 per Student and Duo account and € 3 for family accounts.
Spotify still leads other music streaming services in terms of monthly active users by a total of 356 million. Apple has not shared any milestones recently – the last time it announced 60 million paid users was in June 2019.
Apple just announced that it will bring Podcasts subscriptions with iOS 14.6 next month, and Spotify shared that it will also soon bring a paid subscription functionality to some of its podcasts. Among them are Small leaps, Big changes and Mindful in minutes.
Podcasters who want to offer paid subscriptions do not have to pay Spotify any fees for the first two years, and starting in 2023, they will have to pay a 5% reduction. Spotify will offer podcasters a monthly level of $ 2.99, $ 4.99 and $ 7.99.
In contrast, Apple will take 30% of their paid podcasts in the first year, 15% in the second year and will have an annual fee of $ 19.99.
