Spotify is first music streamer to reach 100 million users

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Spotify
Spotify is the largest music streamer in the world.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Spotify now has more active users than any other music streaming service on the planet, but when it comes to paid subscribers, it looks like growth has stalled.

The Swedish music streaming service revealed today that it now has 100 million active users — up from the 75 million it had last year — however its paid subscribers total hasn’t budged since March.

Spotify says its current paid subscribers total is 30 million, which is the same it was three months ago. Apple Music currently boasts 15 million paid subscribers while Google is also looking to compete in the arena with the new YouTube Music service on both iOS and Android.

Despite having two times as many subscribers as Apple Music, Spotify has been struggling to finally turn a profit. The company posted losses of $209 million in 2015. Part of the problem is only 10% of its revenue comes from ads listened to by free users, yet it doesn’t have a free-trial period that encourages listeners to subscribe.

The music streaming wars are set to get more fierce as Amazon is rumored to be preparing its own standalone music service. Apple Music isn’t resting on its laurels either. Apple revealed at WWDC that Apple Music will get a big redesign this fall, adding more discovery features and a simplified UI.

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