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Spotify Reaches 40 Million Subscribers, Growth Outpacing Apple Music

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Spotify now has more than 40 million paying subscribers. The streaming service has added 10 million since March.

Spotify, with 100 million active users and 30 million songs, is the leading music streaming platform today. Apple Music is hot on Spotify’s tail, but at a growth rate of about one million users per month, it’s not going to catch up anytime soon.

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.

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