Spotify reaches 60 million paid subscribers, remains top dog in music streaming

The world of streaming music may still have issues with profitability, but as Spotify reaches 60 million paid subscribers, it remains the fastest growing market participant in this space.

The Swedish company announced its new subscriber milestone, along with other performance metrics for the month of July, and stated that it currently has over 60 million paid monthly users. As of June, the company had over 140 million monthly users overall, though the majority of its listeners are streaming music via the company’s free tier, which includes advertisements, and which lacks mobile on-demand playback.

The streaming music service had 50 million paid subscribers in March, meaning that it gained 10 million subscribers in just four months. That means Spotify is outpacing the growth of its competitors, including Apple Music, which boasted 27 million paid subscribers as of June — a gain of about 7 million since Apple Music reached the 20 million subscriber milestone last December. Spotify operates in over 60 markets around the globe.

Spotify is currently a privately held company, but its executives are considering bringing the company public. Music streaming firms have generally remained unprofitable, with Spotify and other players in this space frequently requiring cash infusions to remain in operation, but investors may now see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Many of the financial issues facing Spotify stem from its ad-supported free tier, which the company operates at a loss in order to lure paid subscribers. Investors in the company likely hope that once it goes public, it can be transformed into a profitable enterprise by some form of re-think when it comes to the free tier, with income fueled by a increased number of paid monthly subscribers.

Steadily increasing growth on the subscriber side of the business likely has leaders of Spotify feeling a bit less of a tug at their collars from the company’s financiers, even if the company’s long-term business plan may still need a bit of adjustment to ensure that it achieves and maintains profitability.

In the meantime, the company is close to signing a new deal with Warner Music — a necessity before it goes public, according to Reuters.