Spotify now has 75 million subscribers

Spotify had finished the year 2017 strong by breaching the 70 million mark in terms of the total volume of its paying customers. Fast forwarding to four months later, the music streaming subscription service provider has since added another 5 million in order to increase its total to an industry leading 75 million subscriber base.

It is not that surprising for Spotify to reach 75 million subscribers. A little more than a month ago, the world’s number one music streaming brand did made some projections that it would be able to hit between 73 million and 76 million paying customers at the close of the first quarter of the year. The company also took the opportunity to reveal that to date, some 170 million listeners access Spotify at least once in a month.

Despite its dominance, Spotify should still start to watch its back. Its nearest rival is likely Apple Music, and Apple’s music streaming service is already beginning to pick up some steam. Less than a month ago, it was reported that Apple Music had already hit 40 million subscribers, adding a couple of million new paid accounts in just a span of a month (it had reported 38 million subscribers in mid-March early this year).

Competition aside, it can not be denied that Spotify’s success had made an impact in how people everywhere around the world consume music. Before the age of music streaming, consumers were used to purchasing music through vinyl records, cassette tapes, compact discs, and digital downloads. But the rising popularity of streaming service providers such as Spotify and Apple Music is starting to cause a shift in the music industry -- more and more users are now willing to pay a standard monthly rate in order to enjoy access to libraries containing vast catalogs of songs and playlists. 

And it appears that the momentum is still going strong for music streaming -- as a matter of fact, industry leader Spotify is projecting that it should be able to gain between 4 million and 8 million new subscribers by the middle of 2018. It is also estimating that the number of its monthly active users will improve by a range of 5 million to 10 million customers.

Less than a week ago, Spotify had begun to allow its free app to grant all listeners access to on-demand playlists. And in early April, the company also launched a new $13 per month bundle offer with another streaming giant, Hulu.