Spotify Hits 60 Million Active Users, 15 Million Paid Subscribers By End Of 2014

According to information released by Spotify, the music streaming service provider has had a pretty good year. The company recently announced that by the end of 2014, it had amassed 60 million active users across the globe, and managed to hit a total of 15 million in paid subscriptions.

Spotify's numbers are not that much of a surprise. It has always been one of the most popular music streaming service providers existing today. In May of last year, the company had revealed that it had already reached 40 million active users and 10 million paid subscribers. In the seven months since that time, Spotify has managed to take in 20 million more active users and 5 million more paid subscribers. That's roughly 50 percent user growth, which is quite an achievement, considering that in March 2013, Spotify only had 6 million paid subscribers, and it took them more than a year to add 4 million more to get to 10 million in May 2014.

And you have to remember that Spotify has achieved those numbers amidst some fierce competition. Indeed, Spotify had to compete with other music streaming services provided by other established entities Pandora, Amazon Music, iTunes Radio, and Google Play Music. Also, there are up-and-coming players too like Deezer, which just recently inked a deal with Cricket Wireless.

What is Spotify's edge? Perhaps it is the fact that the music streaming brand has always been willing to let its users stream musical content to their mobile devices completely free of charge. As for those who decide to sign up for a paid subscription, they get to listen to music even when offline, steer clear from ads, and enjoy enhanced sound quality.

Despite Spotify's impressive numbers for 2014, it still has a lot of work to do. Pandora has been in the music streaming business for a longer time, and it has its share of customers, which as of October last year has already reached 76.5 million active listeners (up 4 million compared to the previous year's). If Spotify is intent on dominating the field, it may need to double its efforts in 2015.

It is certainly not impossible. And it helps that Spotify has been quick to spot the emerging trend of mobile listening. As a matter of fact, the company is stressing to its brand advertisers that mobile now makes up the majority of listening, with 42 percent of users listening through mobile phones and 10 percent through tablets. If Spotify can tap into that this year, we may be crowning a new music streaming king by the end of 2015.