Spotify stays ahead of Apple Music with 108 million subscribers

The number of Spotify subscribers increased by 31% to reach 108 million members by the end of June, the streaming music service said in its second-quarter report reported on Wednesday, July 31. That figure keeps Spotify well above its closest competitor, Apple Music, which had 60 million subscribers until June. (The Apple figure includes people on three-month free trials; Spotify offers a shorter 30-day free trial and has free subscribers during that promotional period if they have entered the details of their credit card, which is the norm).

Spotify also said on Wednesday that 232 million people now use their service at least once a month, 29 percent more than the previous year. Spotify, unlike Apple, has a free level that allows anyone to listen to music with advertising. Apple has never revealed a monthly statistic of active users; Almost all people who use Apple Music today are subscribers.

In the midst of a cultural change to streaming music listening, Spotify and Apple Music have become leaders, and both are embarking on a race to dominate the market. Although Spotify is still the largest streaming music service in terms of listeners and subscribers, Apple has allegedly surpassed Spotify in the subscriber race in the United States, the world's largest recorded music market. Apple Music has benefited from the popularity of the iPhone to recruit new members, but Spotify emerged from a small Swedish startup to master the most common way people listen to music.

Spotify's growth in monthly active users exceeded the company's best prediction in April (4 million more than the 228 million expected), but its paid subscribers, which generate Spotify much more money than those who listen for free with advertising, were at the lower end of their expectations.

Looking to the future, Spotify predicted that it will have between 110 million and 114 million paid subscribers by the end of September and that its monthly active users will increase to between 240 million and 245 million.

By the end of the year, he hopes to cross the milestone of 250 million listeners per month.

In the last quarter, Spotify, which is based in Sweden, reported a loss of 76 million euros (the US $ 85 million), or 0.42 euros per share, reducing from a loss of 394 million euros, or 2.20 euros per share, a year before. Revenue increased 31 percent to 1,670 million euros in the quarter.

Analysts on average expected a loss of 0.32 euros and 1,640 million euros in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.