Spotify Reaches 100 Million Users as Music Streaming Market Continues to Saturate

Spotify says its user base has grown to 100 million.

The Sweden-based music streaming service last revealed user numbers at 75 million. Currently, around 30% of their users pay for the service, while roughly 70 million are content with advertisements between songs.

Spotify is not alone in the music streaming service. In fact, it’s a rapidly saturating market. Apple Music launched last year and currently claims 13 million paid users—nearly half of Spotify’s count. Google also offers a similar service, Play Music. And according to sources cited in Reuters, Amazon is preparing a music streaming service also.

Spotify is not yet profitable—the company lost more than $200 million last year. It was founded in 2006. This seems to be a trend: while everyone and their pet monkey is eager to jump into the space, most music streaming business models seem to fall short of actually turning a profit.

For example, last year Europe’s Deezer failed to go public following lukewarm reception from investors, and Australia’s Guvera just last week was blocked from an IPO due to shaky financial fundamentals. Meanwhile, Pandora has lost major market value since going public earlier this year.