Skip to main content

Report: 1.4 million Spotify users in US, with many paying

Spotify-USIt was a long time coming, but music streaming service Spotify was eventually able to launch in the US a couple of weeks ago after inking deals with the big US music labels.

The Swedish company behind the service is initially making it invite-only to US users, allowing free access to an ad-supported service. Pay $4.99 a month and you can join one of its paid subscription options.

And by all accounts, it’s doing pretty well. So far, according to an All Things D report on Monday quoting a source “familiar with the company’s operations,” 1.4 million users in the US have taken up the invitation to join the service. OK, you say, it’s an invitation to the free version of the service, people are curious, they’re bound to have a look, so what’s the big deal? Well, of those users, 175,000 have signed up to become paying customers. That’s not bad going, is it?

The All Things D report gives the figures some context, explaining that Rhapsody, the largest digital music subscription service in the US, claims to have 800,000 paying users – and that service launched ten years ago. Furthermore, in Europe, where Spotify has been available in seven countries since its launch in 2008, the company currently has somewhere in the region of 1.6 million paying users.

Digital Trends recently compared Spotify with two similar services – Pandora and Grooveshark. Reviewer Andrew Couts broke his analysis down into six categories. The result? Well, Spotify got some pretty high praise. “Spotify took three out of six categories, more than either Grooveshark or Pandora, which makes it my winner in the streaming showdown. And I must admit, it really is all that the hype builds it up to be (and possibly more),” he wrote.

Editors' Recommendations

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Instafest app: How to make your own Spotify festival lineup
Instafest app running on an iPhone.

If you're on any form of social media, you've likely seen people posting their own custom music festival lineups based on their most-played artists on Spotify. If you head to the Spotify app, however, you won't find the festival-making tool that everyone is using.

Read more
Spotify Wrapped 2022: what it is and how to view it
Spotify Wrapped 2022.

For loads of music lovers, the beginning of December is a special time of year when Spotify drops its annual Spotify Wrapped list, a data-derived deep dive into -- for better or worse -- all the good, bad, and embarrassing music we've been cranking into our earholes for the past year. If you're a Spotify devotee, you've likely already gotten their teaser email about this year's list, which usually lands at the end of November or in the first week of December. But if you haven't, no worries, we've got all the details here.
Further reading

Spotify Wrapped 2022 is here: What's your 'listening personality'?
What is Spotify: music, pricing, and features explained
Apple Music vs. Spotify: Which music streamer is the best?
Instafest: How to make your own Spotify festival lineup

Read more
Spotify app update finally lets you separate your music and podcasts
spotify app home page music podcasts separate tabs reorganization

Spotify is giving the Home page of its app a major makeover by creating separate feeds for music and podcasts. The audio streaming company announced the changes on Tuesday, and the new feature is starting to roll out to Android users, with the iOS app set to receive it soon after.

The revamped Home page will have two separate tabs on the top left corner of the screen labeled "Music" and "Podcasts & Shows." Tapping on the Music tab will take you straight to the music you've been listening to and give you playlist and artist recommendations based on the genres you hear the most. The Podcast & Shows tab will immediately show you the latest episodes of your favorite podcasts, as well as give you suggestions for new ones.

Read more