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Wikipedia

Spotify

January 01, 1970

Not to be confused with Shopify.

Spotify (/ˈspɒtɪfaɪ/; Swedish: [ˈspɔ̂tːɪfaj]) is a Swedish[6] audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon.[7] It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 615 million monthly active users, including 239 million paying subscribers, as of March 2024.[4][8] Spotify is listed (through a Luxembourg City-domiciled holding company, Spotify Technology S.A.[1]) on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American depositary receipts.

Spotify Technology S.A.
Type of businessPublic
Traded as
Founded23 April 2006; 18 years ago (2006-04-23)
Headquarters
Stockholm, Sweden[1][2]
Country of originSweden
No. of locations15 offices[2]
Founder(s)
Key peopleDaniel Ek (Chairman & CEO)
Martin Lorentzon (treasurer)
Industry
  • Audio streaming
  • Podcasting
Revenue €13.25 billion (2023)[3]
Operating income €–446 million (2023)[3]
Net income €–532 million (2023)[3]
Total assets €8.35 billion (2023)[3]
Total equity €2.52 billion (2023)[3]
Employees7,721 (March 2024)[4]
Subsidiaries
  • Spotify AB[5][1]: 43 
  • Spotify USA Inc.[1]: 43 
  • Spotify Ltd (UK)[1]: 43 
  • Several other regional subsidiaries[1]: 43 
  • Tencent Music (16.9%)
URLspotify.com
RegistrationRequired
Users
  • Free: 388 million
  • Paying: 239 million
  • Total (MAU): 615 million
(March 2024)[3]: 46 
Launched7 October 2008; 15 years ago (2008-10-07)

Spotify offers digital copyright restricted recorded audio content, including more than 100 million songs and six million podcast titles, from record labels and media companies.[8] As a freemium service, basic features are free with advertisements and limited control, while additional features, such as offline listening and commercial-free listening, are offered via paid subscriptions. Users can search for music based on artist, album, or genre, and can create, edit, and share playlists.

Spotify is available in most of Europe, as well as Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania, with a total availability in 184 markets.[9] Its users and subscribers are based largely in the US and Europe, jointly accounting for around 53% of users and 67% of revenue.[10] It has no presence in mainland China where the market is dominated by QQ Music. The service is available on most devices, including Windows, macOS, and Linux computers, iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, smart home devices such as the Amazon Echo and Google Nest lines of products, and digital media players like Roku.[11] As of December 2023, Spotify was the 47th most-visited website in the world with 24.78% of its traffic coming from the United States followed by Brazil with 6.51% according to data provided by Semrush.[12][13]

Unlike physical or download sales, which pay artists a fixed price per song or album sold, Spotify pays royalties based on the number of artist streams as a proportion of total songs streamed. It distributes approximately 70% of its total revenue to rights holders (often record labels), who then pay artists based on individual agreements.[14] While certain musicians have voiced objections to Spotify's royalty structure and its effect on record sales, others laud the service for offering a lawful option to combat piracy and for remunerating artists each time their music is played.[15]

History

Spotify was founded in 2006 in Stockholm, Sweden,[16] by Daniel Ek, former CTO of Stardoll, and Martin Lorentzon, co-founder of Tradedoubler.[17][18] According to Ek, the company's title was initially misheard from a name shouted by Lorentzon. Later they conceived a portmanteau of "spot" and "identify".[19]

Early international launches

 
Daniel Ek addressing Spotify staff in 2010
 
Former Spotify headquarters in Stockholm

In February 2010, Spotify opened public registration for the free service tier in the United Kingdom.[17] Registrations surged following the release of the mobile service, leading Spotify to halt registration for the free service in September, returning the UK to an invitation-only policy.[20]

Spotify launched in the United States in July 2011, and offered a six-month, ad-supported trial period, during which new users could listen to an unlimited amount of music for free. In January 2012, the free trial periods began to expire, limiting users to ten hours of streaming each month and five plays per song.[21] Using PC streaming, a similar structure to the one used today allowed the listener to play songs freely, but with ads every 4–7 songs depending on listening duration. Later that same year, in March, Spotify removed all limits on the free service tier indefinitely, including mobile devices.[22]

In April 2016, Ek and Lorentzon wrote an open letter to Swedish politicians, demanding action in three areas that they claimed hindered the company's ability to recruit top talent as Spotify grew, including access to flexible housing, better education in the programming and development fields, and stock options. Ek and Lorentzon wrote that to continue competing in a global economy, politicians needed to respond with new policies, or thousands of Spotify jobs would be moved from Sweden to the United States.[23]

In February 2017, Spotify announced the expansion of its United States operations in Lower Manhattan, New York City, at 4 World Trade Center, adding approximately 1,000 new jobs and retaining 832 existing positions.[24] The company's US headquarters are in New York City's Flatiron District.[25]

On 14 November 2018, the company announced 13 new markets in the MENA region, including the creation of a new Arabic hub and several playlists.[26]

Other developments

Streaming records

Main articles: List of most-streamed artists on Spotify and List of Spotify streaming records

In October 2015, "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran became the first song to pass 500 million streams.[27] A month later, Spotify announced that "Lean On" by Major Lazer and DJ Snake featuring MØ was its most-streamed song of all time with over 525 million streams worldwide.[28] In April 2016, Rihanna overtook Justin Bieber to become the biggest artist on Spotify, with 31.3 million monthly active listeners.[29] In May 2016, Rihanna was overtaken by Drake with 31.85 million monthly listeners.[30] In December 2016, Drake's just-under 36 million monthly listeners were overtaken by the Weeknd's 36.068 million.[31] Later that same month, Drake's song "One Dance" became the first song to hit one billion streams on Spotify.[32][33] Upon its release in August 2017, the single "Look What You Made Me Do" by Taylor Swift earned over eight million streams within 24 hours, breaking the record for the most single-day streams for a track.[34] On 19 June 2018, XXXTentacion's hit single "Sad!" broke Swift's single-day streaming record, amassing 10.4 million streams the day after he was fatally shot in Florida.[35]

User growth

In March 2011, Spotify announced a customer base of 1 million paying subscribers across Europe,[36] and by September 2011, the number of paying subscribers had doubled to two million.[37] In August 2012, Time reported 15 million active users, four million being paying Spotify subscribers.[38] User growth continued, reaching 20 million total active users, including five million paying customers globally and one million paying customers in the United States, in December 2012.[39] By March 2013, the service had 24 million active users, six million being paying subscribers,[40] which grew to 40 million users (including ten million paying) in May 2014,[41] 60 million users (including 15 million paying) in December 2014, 75 million users (20 million paying) in June 2015, 30 million paying subscribers in March 2016,[42] 40 million paying subscribers in September 2016,[43] and 100 million total users in June 2016.[44] In April 2020, Spotify reached 133 million premium users.[45] In countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Spotify registered a fall in users in late February, but it has seen a recovery.[46] In March 2022, Spotify had 182 million premium subscribers.[47] At the end of Q2 2022, Spotify reported 188 million paying subscribers and 433 million total users.[48]

Premium-exclusive albums

The Financial Times reported in March 2017 that, as part of its efforts to renegotiate new licensing deals with music labels, Spotify and major record labels had agreed that Spotify would restrict some newly released albums to its Premium tier, with Spotify receiving a reduction in royalty fees to do so. Select albums would be available only on the Premium tier for a period of time, before general release. The deal "may be months away from being finalized, but Spotify is said to have cleared this particular clause with major record labels".[49][50][51] New reports in April confirmed that Spotify and Universal Music Group had reached an agreement to allow artists part of Universal to limit their new album releases to the Premium service tier for a maximum of two weeks. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek commented that "We know that not every album by every artist should be released the same way, and we've worked hard with UMG to develop a new, flexible release policy. Starting today, Universal artists can choose to release new albums on premium only for two weeks, offering subscribers an earlier chance to explore the complete creative work, while the singles are available across Spotify for all our listeners to enjoy".[52][53][54] It was announced later in April that this type of agreement would be extended to indie artists signed to the Merlin Network agency.[55][56]

Direct public offering

Spotify went public on the stock market in April 2018 using a direct public offering rather than an initial public offering. This approach is not intended to raise fresh capital, but to let investors get their returns.[57][58][59] Morgan Stanley is the company's slated advisor on the matter.[59]

After making its debut on the New York Stock Exchange on 3 April 2018, CNBC reported that Spotify opened at $165.90, more than 25% above its reference price of $132.[60]

2020 hacking incident

On 3 July 2020, cybersecurity firm VPNMentor discovered a database containing 380 million individual records, including the logins and passwords of Spotify users.[61] The database was thought to be evidence of an impending credential stuffing cyberattack targeting Spotify[62] as it contained the credentials of up to 350,000 compromised user accounts.[63] In response to the attack, Spotify issued a rolling reset of passwords for affected accounts in November 2020.[64]

Acquisitions, podcasting and exclusivity deals

In May 2013, Spotify acquired music discovery app Tunigo.[65] In March 2014, they acquired The Echo Nest, a music intelligence company.[66][67] In June 2015, Spotify announced they had acquired Seed Scientific, a data science consulting firm and analytics company. In a comment to TechCrunch, Spotify said that Seed Scientific's team would lead an advanced analytics unit within the company, focused on developing data services.[68][69] In January 2016, they acquired social and messaging startups Cord Project and Soundwave,[70] followed in April 2016 by CrowdAlbum, a "startup that collects photos and videos of performances shared on social networks," and would "enhance the development of products that help artists understand, activate, and monetize their audiences".[71] In November 2016, Spotify acquired Preact, a "cloud-based platform and service developed for companies that operate on subscription models which helps reduce churn and build up their subscriber numbers".[72]

In March 2017, Spotify acquired Sonalytic, an audio detection startup, for an undisclosed amount of money. Spotify stated that Sonalytic would be used to improve the company's personalized playlists, better match songs with compositions, and improve the company's publishing data system.[73] Later that month, Spotify also acquired MightyTV, an app connected to television streaming services, including Netflix and HBO Go, that recommends content to users. Spotify intended to use MightyTV to improve its advertising efforts on the free tier of service.[74] In April 2017, they acquired Mediachain, a blockchain startup that had been developing a decentralized database system for managing attribution, and other metadata for media.[75][76] This was followed in May 2017 with the acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Niland, which uses technology to improve personalisation and recommendation features for users.[77][78] In November 2017, Spotify acquired Soundtrap, an online music studio startup.[79][80]

On 12 April 2018, Spotify acquired the music licensing platform Loudr.[81] In August 2018, Spotify bought the exclusive rights to The Joe Budden Podcast and expanded the show to a twice-weekly schedule.[82] On 6 February 2019, Spotify acquired the podcast networks Gimlet Media and Anchor FM Inc., with the goal of establishing themselves as a leading figure in podcasting.[83][84][85] On 26 March 2019, Spotify announced they would acquire another podcast network, Parcast.[86][87] On 12 September 2019, Spotify acquired SoundBetter, a music production marketplace for people in the music industry to collaborate on projects, and distribute music tracks for licensing.[88] On 19 November 2019, Spotify announced the acquisition of the exclusive rights to The Last Podcast on the Left.[89]

On 5 February 2020, Spotify announced its intent to acquire Bill Simmons' sports and pop culture blog and podcast network The Ringer for an undisclosed amount. On 19 May 2020, Spotify acquired exclusive rights to stream the popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience beginning in September of that year, under an agreement valued at around US$100 million (equivalent to $116,000,000 in 2023).[90][91][92][93]

In November 2020, Spotify announced plans to acquire Megaphone from The Slate Group for US$235 million.[94] In March 2021, Spotify acquired app developer Betty Labs and their live social audio app, Locker Room,[95] On 12 May 2021. Armchair Expert announced on Instagram that the podcast would be available exclusively on Spotify beginning 1 July, saying they would continue to maintain the same creative control over the show after the move.[96][97] Locker Room was rebranded in June 2021 as Spotify Greenroom, and turned into a Clubhouse competitor.[98] The same month, Spotify acquired Podz, a podcast discovery startup.[99] Also the same month, Spotify bought the exclusive rights to the Call Her Daddy podcast.[100] In November 2021, Spotify acquired audiobook company Findaway, including its publishing imprint OrangeSky Audio.[101] In December 2021, Spotify acquired Whooshkaa, a podcast tech company that develops specialized technology that allows radio broadcasters to easily turn their existing audio content into on-demand podcast programming.[102]

In February 2022, Spotify acquired Chartable and Podsights. Both are podcast advertising companies.[103] In 2022, Spotify Greenroom rebranded as Spotify Live,[104] which was subsequently planned to be shut down in April 2023.[105] In June 2022, Spotify acquired Sonantic, a synthetic voice and video developer.[106] In July 2022, Spotify acquired Heardle, a Wordle-inspired music trivia game, for an undisclosed amount;[107][108] Heardle was shut down in May 2023.[109] In October 2022, Spotify acquired the Dublin-based content moderation startup, Kinzen.[110] In 2023, Spotify merged Anchor into their Spotify for Podcasters tool, a rebranding move and to organize its tools for creating, managing, growing, and monetizing their content in one place.[111]

Company partnerships

In January 2015, Sony announced PlayStation Music, a new music service with Spotify as its exclusive partner. PlayStation Music incorporates the Spotify service into Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 gaming consoles, and Sony Xperia mobile devices. The service launched on 30 March 2015.[112] In March 2017, Spotify announced a partnership with the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference for 2017, presenting specific content in special playlists through an SXSW hub in Spotify's apps. The integration also enabled Spotify within the SXSW GO app to help users discover and explore artists performing at the conference. Two more partnerships were announced in March; one with WNYC Studios, and one with Waze. The WNYC Studios partnership brought various podcasts from WNYC to Spotify, including Note to Self, On the Media and Here's the Thing. Spotify also announced that the third season of WNYC Studios' 2 Dope Queens podcast would premiere with a two-week exclusivity period on the service on 21 March 2017.[113] The Waze partnership allows Waze app users to view directions to destinations within the Spotify app and access their Spotify playlists through the Waze app.[114]

In October 2017, Microsoft announced that it would be ending its Groove Music streaming service by December, with all music from users transferring to Spotify as part of a new partnership.[115] In December, Spotify and Tencent's music arm, Tencent Music Entertainment (TME), agreed to swap stakes and make an investment in each other's music businesses.[116][117] As a result of this transaction, Spotify gained a 9% stake in TME with TME gaining a 7.5% stake in Spotify.[118]

In February 2018, Spotify integrated with the gaming-oriented voice chat service Discord on desktop clients, allowing users to display their currently playing song as a rich presence on their profile, and invite other users with Spotify Premium to group "listening parties".[119] In April, Spotify announced a discounted entertainment bundle with video-on-demand provider Hulu, which included discounted rates for university students.[120]

In May 2020, Spotify teamed up with ESPN and Netflix to curate podcasts around their Michael Jordan documentary The Last Dance,[121] and in September, Spotify signed a deal with Chernin Entertainment to produce movies and TV shows.[122]

In 2020 and 2021, Spotify and DC, a brand at the time under Warner Bros. Entertainment signed deals to create audio shows on the platform around characters such as Catwoman, Wonder Woman, the Riddler, Batgirl, Superman and Lois Lane, among others.[123][124]

In 2022, Spotify became the official streaming partner of FC Barcelona.[125]

In May 2022, Spotify announced a partnership with the online game platform and game creation system the Roblox Corporation, the partnership saw Spotify as the first streaming brand to have a presence within the game with the launch of "Spotify Island".[126]

In March 2023, Spotify announced a partnership with Patreon, which Spotify claimed would "enable creators to expand their creative business through direct payments from fans, and allow fans to listen to their Patreon content on Spotify".[111][127]

Dispute with Apple

See also: Criticism of Apple Inc. § Spotify

In July 2015, Spotify launched an email campaign to urge its App Store subscribers to cancel their subscriptions and start new ones through its website, bypassing the 30% transaction fee for in-app purchases required for iOS applications by technology company Apple Inc.[128] A later update to the Spotify app on iOS was rejected by Apple, prompting Spotify's general counsel Horacio Gutierrez to write a letter to Apple's then-general counsel Bruce Sewell, stating: "This latest episode raises serious concerns under both U.S. and EU competition law. It continues a troubling pattern of behavior by Apple to exclude and diminish the competitiveness of Spotify on iOS and as a rival to Apple Music, particularly when seen against the backdrop of Apple's previous anticompetitive conduct aimed at Spotify ... we cannot stand by as Apple uses the App Store approval process as a weapon to harm competitors."[129]

Sewell responded to the letter: "We find it troubling that you are asking for exemptions to the rules we apply to all developers and are publicly resorting to rumors and half-truths about our service." He also elaborated that "Our guidelines apply equally to all app developers, whether they are game developers, e-book sellers, video-streaming services or digital music distributors; and regardless of whether they compete against Apple. We did not alter our behavior or our rules when we introduced our own music streaming service or when Spotify became a competitor". Furthermore, he stated that "There is nothing in Apple's conduct that 'amounts to a violation of applicable antitrust laws.' Far from it. ... I would be happy to facilitate an expeditious review and approval of your app as soon as you provide us with something that is compliant with the App Store's rules".[130][131]

In the following months, Spotify joined several other companies in filing a letter with the European Union's antitrust body indirectly accusing Apple and Google of "abusing their 'privileged position' at the top of the market", by referring to "some" companies as having "transformed into 'gatekeepers' rather than 'gateways'".[132][133] The complaint led to the European Union announcing that it would prepare an initiative by the end of 2017 for a possible law addressing unfair competition practices.[134][135]

Spotify released the first version of its Apple Watch app in November 2018, allowing playback control of the iPhone via the watch. Users can also choose which devices to play music on via Bluetooth.[136] In a further escalation of the dispute with Apple, on 13 March 2019, Spotify filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission over unfair app store practices. Two days later, Apple responded, stating that the claim was misleading rhetoric and that Spotify wanted benefits of a free app without being a free app. Spotify responded with a statement calling Apple a monopolist and stated that they had only filed the complaint as Apple's actions hurt competition and consumers and clearly violated the law. It also said that Apple believed Spotify users on the app store were Apple's customers and not Spotify's.[137]

Apple responded to Spotify's claims by counter-claiming that Spotify's market reach and user base would not have been possible without the Apple App Store platform. Additionally, Apple stated that they have attempted to work with Spotify to integrate the service better with Apple's products, such as Siri and Apple Watch.[138] In 2019, under iOS 13, it became possible to play Spotify music using Siri commands.[139]

Spotify was one of the first companies to support Epic Games in their lawsuit against Apple, which was filed after Epic also tried to bypass Apple's 30% fee for microtransactions in Fortnite. In September 2020, Spotify, Epic, and other companies founded The Coalition for App Fairness, which aims for better conditions for the inclusion of apps in app stores.[140]

Dispute with Kakao Entertainment Corp.

On 1 March 2021, Spotify confirmed that its platform would no longer have access to music from artists represented by Kakao Entertainment. However, after talking it out and renewing the contracts between the two, Spotify later announced that they had reached an agreement with Kakao Entertainment, allowing their content to be available once again on the platform across the globe.[141]

Functionality

In November 2021, Spotify hid the "shuffle" button for albums following a request by singer Adele, arguing that tracks in albums are supposed to be played back in the order specified by the artist in order to "tell a story".[142]

NFTs

In May 2022, Spotify began testing a feature that would allow select artists to promote their NFTs via their profiles. Some artists included in this initial test phase were Steve Aoki and The Wombats. The testing was very limited in nature and was only available on Spotify's Android app in the US.[143]

Artificial streams

In May 2023, Spotify removed tens of thousands of songs, roughly 7% of the tracks uploaded by the Boomy, due to suspected “artificial streaming”, the practice of using online bots to inflate the listening statistics.[144]

Business model

 
Spotify offices in Stockholm, 2024

Spotify operates under a freemium business model (basic services are free, while additional features are offered via paid subscriptions). Spotify generates revenue by selling premium streaming subscriptions to users and advertising placements to third parties. Some of the premium options users may choose from include individual, duo, family, and student.[145]

In December 2013, the company launched a new website, "Spotify for Artists", explaining its business model and revenue data. Spotify gets its content from major record labels as well as independent artists and pays copyright holders royalties for streaming music. The company pays 70% of its total revenue to rights holders. Spotify for Artists states that the company does not have a fixed per-play rate; instead, it considers factors such as the user's home country and the individual artist's royalty rate. Rights holders received an average per-play payout between $.000029 and $.0084.[146]

In 2013, Spotify revealed that it paid artists an average of $0.007 per stream. Music Week editor Tim Ingham commented that while the figure may "initially seem alarming," he noted: "Unlike buying a CD or download, streaming is not a one-off payment. Hundreds of millions of streams of tracks are happening every day, which quickly multiplies the potential revenues on offer – and is a constant long-term source of income for artists."[147] According to Ben Sisario of The New York Times, approximately 13,000 out of seven million artists (0.19%) on Spotify generated $50,000 (equivalent to $58,000 in 2023) or more in payments in 2020.[148]

In November 2023, Spotify announced a new royalty model taking effect in 2024, aiming to reduce the amount of "fraudulent" royalties collected from "functional" non-music tracks with short lengths (such as environmental sounds and white noise). Under the model, tracks must reach at least 1,000 listens in 12 months to become eligible for royalties, "functional" tracks will require a longer amount of play time to count as a listen, and distributors will face reprimands if their content is responsible for generating "fradulant" royalties. The changes faced a mixed reaction from the music industry, who believed that it would be detrimental to emerging musicians, but would make a larger share of total royalty payments available to musicians.[149][150][151]

Accounts and subscriptions

As of August 2022, the three Spotify subscription types are:

Type Remove ads Mobile listening Sound quality Listen offline Spotify Connect
Spotify Free No Limited
(shuffle-only mode) 		Up to 160 kbit/s Vorbis or 128 kbit/s Advanced Audio Coding for the web player No Limited
(Spotify Connect device using the new SDK)
Spotify Premium Yes Yes Up to 320 kbit/s Vorbis or 256 kbit/s AAC for the web player Yes Yes

None of these subscriptions limit listening time.

In March 2014, Spotify introduced a discounted Premium subscription tier for students in which students in the United States enrolled in a university pay half-price for a Premium subscription.[152] In April 2017, the discount was expanded to 33 more countries.[153][154]

Spotify introduced a Family subscription in October 2014, which allows up to 5 family members to have a premium subscription.[155][156] In May 2016, the limit was changed to 6 family members, and the price was reduced.[157] The Family subscription provides access to Spotify Kids.[158]

In November 2018, Spotify announced it was opening up Spotify Connect to all of the users using its Free service, however, these changes still required products supporting Spotify Connect to support the latest software development kit.[159][160]

In July 2020,[161] Spotify added another tier, Premium Duo.[162] This is aimed at couples and for $12.99 it lets up to 2 people (living at the same address) share a subscription.

In February 2021, Spotify announced their plans to introduce a HiFi subscription, to offer listening in high fidelity, lossless sound quality. The rollout for the HiFi tier is yet to be announced.[163]

In August 2021, Spotify launched a test subscription tier called Spotify Plus. The subscription costs $0.99 and is supposed to be a combination of the free and premium tiers. Subscribers to this plan will still receive ads but will get the ability to listen to songs without shuffle mode and skip any number of tracks. The company reported that the tier conditions may change before its full launch.[164] This might have been discontinued (at least in some regions) according to an email sent to a redditor.[165]

Monetization

In 2008, just after launch, the company made a loss of 31.8 million Swedish kronor (US$4.4 million).[166] In October 2010, Wired reported that Spotify was making more money for labels in Sweden than any other retailer "online or off".[167] Years after growth and expansion, a November 2012 report suggested strong momentum for the company. In 2011, it reported a near US$60 million net loss from revenue of $244 million (equivalent to $326,200,000 in 2023), while it was expected to generate a net loss of $40 million (equivalent to $52,490,000 in 2023) from revenue of $500 million in 2012 (equivalent to $656,100,000 in 2023).[168] Another source of income was music purchases from within the app, however this service was removed in January 2013.[169]

In May 2016, Spotify announced "Sponsored Playlists", a monetisation opportunity in which brands can specify the audiences they have in mind, with Spotify matching the marketer with suitable music in a playlist.[170][171] That September, Spotify announced that it had paid a total of over $5 billion to the music industry. In June 2017, as part of renegotiated licenses with Universal Music Group and Merlin Network, Spotify's financial filings revealed its agreement to pay more than $2 billion (equivalent to $2,445,000,000 in 2023) in minimum payments over the next two years.[172][173][174]

As of 2017, Spotify was not yet a profitable company.[175] Spotify's revenue for Q1 2020 amounted to €1.85 billion ($2 billion). A large part of this sum, €1.7 billion ($1.84 billion), came from Spotify Premium subscribers. Gross profit in the same quarter amounted to €472 million ($511 million), with an operating loss of €17 million ($18 million).[176] Despite subscriber and podcasts growth, during Q2 of 2020, Spotify reported a loss of €356 million (€1.91 per share). The "deeper" loss came as a result of the company's tax debt to over one-third of its employees in Sweden.[177]

Funding

In February 2010, Spotify received a small investment from Founders Fund, where board member Sean Parker was recruited to assist Spotify in "winning the labels over in the world's largest music market". In June 2011, Spotify secured $100 million of funding (equivalent to $133,700,000 in 2023) and planned to use this to support its US launch.[178] The new round of funding valued the company at $1 billion.[179] A Goldman Sachs-led round of funding closed in November 2012, raising around $100 million (equivalent to $131,200,000 in 2023) at a $3 billion valuation (equivalent to $3,937,000,000 in 2023). In April 2015, Spotify began another round of fundraising, with a report from The Wall Street Journal stating it was seeking $400 million (equivalent to $502,800,000 in 2023), which would value the company at $8.4 billion (equivalent to $10,558,000,000 in 2023). The financing was closed in June 2015, with Spotify raising $526 million (equivalent to $661,100,000 in 2023), at a value of $8.53 billion (equivalent to $10,721,000,000 in 2023).[180] In January 2016, Spotify raised another $500 million (equivalent to $622,500,000 in 2023) through convertible bonds. In March 2016, Spotify raised $1 billion (equivalent to $1,245,000,000 in 2023) in financing by debt plus a discount of 20% on shares once the initial public offering (IPO) of shares takes place.[181] The company was, according to TechCrunch, planning to launch on the stock market in 2017, but in 2017 it was seen as planning on doing the IPO in 2018 in order to "build up a better balance sheet and work on shifting its business model to improve its margins".[182]

Downloads

In March 2009, Spotify began offering music downloads in the United Kingdom, France, and Spain. Users could purchase tracks from Spotify, which partnered with 7digital to incorporate the feature. The ability to purchase and download music tracks via the app was removed on 4 January 2013.[169]

Spotify for Artists

In November 2015, Spotify introduced a "Fan Insights" panel in limited beta form, letting artists and managers access data on monthly listeners, geographical data, demographic information, music preferences and more.[183] In April 2017, the panel was upgraded to leave beta status, renamed as "Spotify for Artists", and opened to all artists and managers. Additional features include the ability to get "verified" status with a blue checkmark on an artist's profile, receiving artist support from Spotify, customising the profile page with photos and promoting a certain song as their "pick".[184][185]

In September 2018, Spotify announced "Upload Beta", allowing artists to upload directly to the platform instead of going through a distributor or record label.[186] The feature was rolled out to a small number of US-based artists by invitation only. Uploading was free and artists received 100% of the revenue from songs they uploaded; artists were able to control when their release went public. On 1 July 2019, Spotify deprecated the program and announced plans to stop accepting direct uploads by the end of that month and eventually remove all content uploaded in this manner.[187]

Industry initiatives

In June 2017, Variety reported that Spotify would announce "Secret Genius", a new initiative aimed at highlighting songwriters and producers, and the effect those people have on the music industry and the artists' careers. The project, which would feature awards, "Songshops" songwriting workshops, curated playlists, and podcasts, is an effort to "shine a light on these people behind the scenes who play such a big role in some of the most important moments of our lives. When the general public hears a song, they automatically associate it with the artist who sings it, not the people behind the scenes who make it happen, so we thought the title Secret Genius was appropriate", Spotify's former Global Head of Creator Services Troy Carter told Variety the first awards ceremony would take place in late 2017,[needs update] and was intended to honour "the top songwriters, producers and publishers in the industry as well as up-and-coming talent". Additionally, as part of "The Ambassador Program", 13 songwriters would each host a Songshop workshop, in which their peers would collaboratively attempt to create a hit song, with the first workshop taking place in Los Angeles in June 2017.[188]

In October 2017, Spotify launched "Rise", a program aimed at promoting emerging artists.[189][190] In February 2020, Spotify announced it would be featuring new songwriter pages and 'written by' playlists. This was aimed at giving fans a behind the scenes look at the process of some of their favorite songwriters. Initial pages added included Justin Trantor, Meghan Trainor, and Missy Elliott. Spotify thereafter announced it was planning to add more of these pages and playlists to highlight songwriters.[191][192]

In January 2021, Spotify made a selection of audiobooks available on the platform as a test of developing a greater breadth of content for users.[193] The addition of audiobooks to the service would create similar offerings to that of Amazon's Audible. In 2020, Spotify partnered with Wizarding World to release a series of recorded readings of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, by various stars of the franchise.[194] In November 2023, Spotify expanded free access to 200,000 audiobooks for Spotify Premium subscribers.[195] In April 2024, Spotify expanded access to the audiobooks from the US, UK and Australia to include Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. The company also announced an expansion of its book catalogue to 250,000 books.[196]

Stations by Spotify

On 31 January 2018, Spotify started testing a new Pandora-styled standalone app called Stations by Spotify for Australian Android users.[197] It featured 62 music channels, each devoted to a particular genre. Spotify itself has two channels named after its playlists that link directly to the users' profile: "Release Radar" and "Discover Weekly". The aim was to help users to listen to the music they want without information overload or spending time building their own playlists. At launch, the skipping feature was not featured to "reinforce the feel of radio", but it was quietly added later and with no limits. Songs can be "loved" but cannot be "hated". If a song is "loved", a custom radio channel will be created based on it, and when there are at least 15 of these songs, a "My Favourites" channel is unlocked.

The standalone app was made available to all iOS and Android users in the United States since 4 June 2019.[198]

Spotify announced the app would be shut down on 16 May 2022. The company said users would be able to login into the main Spotify app with their Stations account and transfer their stations into Spotify.[199]

Platforms

Spotify
 
Screenshot
 
Screenshot of Spotify on Android (January 2024), showcasing the app's Home tab.
Developer(s)Spotify AB
Initial release7 October 2008 (2008-10-07)
Stable release(s) [±]
Android8.9.24.633 / March 22, 2024; 59 days ago (2024-03-22)[200]
Wear OS8.9.24.633 / March 22, 2024; 59 days ago (2024-03-22)
iOS8.9.19 / March 4, 2024; 2 months ago (2024-03-04)[201]
iPadOS8.9.19 / March 4, 2024; 2 months ago (2024-03-04)
Windows1.2.37.701 / May 9, 2024; 11 days ago (2024-05-09)[202]
macOS1.2.33.1042 / August 31, 2023; 8 months ago (2023-08-31)
Linux1.2.31.1205 / February 23, 2024; 2 months ago (2024-02-23)[203]
Preview release(s) [±]
Android8.6.96 / December 30, 2021; 2 years ago (2021-12-30)[204]
iOS8.6.96 / December 31, 2021; 2 years ago (2021-12-31)[204]
Written inPrimarily Python, with some Java, C, and C++ components[205]
Operating system
Available in74 languages[206]
List of languages
English, Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Hungarian, Czech, German, Spanish, International Spanish, Finnish, French, Canadian French, Greek, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Malay, Dutch, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese, Afrikaans, Amharic, Azerbaijani, Basque, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Bulgarian, Bosnian, Simplified Chinese, Croatian, Danish, Estonian, Filipino, Galician, Gujarati, Hindi, Icelandic, Kannada, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Norwegian, Odia, Persian, Portuguese, Eastern Punjabi, Western Punjabi, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Swahili, Tamil, Telugu, Ukrainian, Urdu, Zulu
TypeMusic streaming, podcast player
LicenseProprietary
Websitewww.spotify.com  

Spotify has client software currently available for Windows, macOS, Wear OS, Android, iOS, watchOS, iPadOS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S game consoles. There is an official, although unsupported Linux version. Spotify also offers a proprietary protocol known as "Spotify Connect", which lets users listen to music through a wide range of entertainment systems, including speakers, receivers, TVs, cars, and smartwatches. Spotify also has a web player (open.spotify.com).[207] Offline Music listening is possible on watchOS[208] and more recently added to Google's WearOS[209] for those with premium subscriptions. Unlike the apps, the web player does not have the ability to download music for offline listening. In June 2017, Spotify became available as an app through Windows Store.[210][211]

Features

 
Spotify Desktop Client running on Windows

In Spotify's apps, music can be browsed or searched for via various parameters, such as artist, album, genre, playlist, or record label. Users can create, edit and share playlists, share tracks on social media, and make playlists with other users. Spotify provides access to over 100 million songs, 5 million podcasts, and 4 billion playlists. In June 2012, Soundrop became the first Spotify app to attract major funding, receiving $3 million (equivalent to $3,937,000 in 2023) from Spotify investor Northzone.[212][213][8]

In November 2011, Spotify introduced a Spotify Apps service that made it possible for third-party developers to design applications that could be hosted within the Spotify computer software. The applications provided features such as synchronised lyrics, music reviews, and song recommendations.[214][215][216] However, after the June 2014 announcement of a Web API that allowed third-party developers to integrate Spotify content in their own web applications, the company discontinued its Spotify Apps platform in October, stating that its new development tools for the Spotify web player fulfilled many of the advantages of the former Spotify Apps service that allows users to access the service directly from their web browser without downloading the app. But "would ensure the Spotify platform remained relevant and easy to develop on, as well as enabling you to build innovative and engaging music experiences".[217]

In April 2012, Spotify introduced a "Spotify Play Button", an embeddable music player that can be added to blogs, websites, or social media profiles, that lets visitors listen to a specific song, playlist, or album without leaving the page.[218] The following November, the company began rolling out a web player, with a similar design to its computer programs, but without the requirement of any installation.[207]

In December 2012, Spotify introduced a "Follow" tab and a "Discover" tab,[219] along with a "Collection" section.[220] "Follow" lets users follow artists and friends to see what they are listening to, while "Discover" directs users to new releases as well as music, review, and concert recommendations based on listening history. Users can add tracks to a "Collection" section of the app, rather than adding them to a specific playlist.[221][222] The features were announced by CEO Daniel Ek at a press conference, with Ek saying that a common user complaint about the service was that "Spotify is great when you know what music you want to listen to, but not when you don't".[223]

In May 2015, Spotify announced a new "Home" start-page that could recommend music. The company also introduced "Spotify Running", a feature aimed at improving music while running with music matched to running tempo, and announced that podcasts and videos ("entertainment, news and clips") would be coming to Spotify, along with "Spotify Originals" content.[224][225][226]

In December 2015, Spotify debuted Spotify Wrapped, a program that creates playlists based on each user's most listened-to songs from the year. Users then can view and save this playlist at the end of the year.[227][228]

In January 2016, Spotify and music annotation service Genius formed a partnership, bringing annotation information from Genius into infocards presented while songs are playing in Spotify. The functionality is limited to selected playlists and was only available on Spotify's iOS app at launch,[229][230][231] being expanded to the Android app in April 2017. This feature was known as "Behind the Lyrics".[232][233] As of 18 November 2021, "Behind the Lyrics" has been replaced with auto-generated real-time lyrics due to consumer demand. The feature is powered by lyrics provider Musixmatch.[234]

In May 2017, Spotify introduced Spotify Codes for its mobile apps, a way for users to share specific artists, tracks, playlists or albums with other people. Users find the relevant content to share and press a "soundwave-style barcode" on the display. A camera icon in the apps' search fields lets other users point their device's camera at the code, which takes them to the same content.[235][236][237]

In January 2019, Spotify introduced Car View for Android, allowing devices running Android to have a compact Now Playing screen when the device is connected to a car's Bluetooth.[238][239] Also in January 2019, Spotify beta-tested its Canvas feature, where artists or labels can upload looping 3 to 8-second moving visuals to their tracks, replacing album covers in the "Now Playing" view; users have the option to turn off this feature. Canvas is only available for Spotify's iOS and Android mobile apps.[240] Months later, Spotify tested its own version of stories (the sharing format popularized by social apps) known as "Storyline", and the focus is on allowing artists to share their own insights, inspiration, details about their creative process or other meanings behind the music.[241]

In March 2021, Spotify announced an upcoming option for higher-resolution sound, Spotify Hi-Fi.[242]

Playlists and discovery

In July 2015, Spotify launched Discover Weekly, a playlist generated weekly. Updated on Mondays, it provides users with music recommendations.[243][244] In December 2015, Quartz reported that songs in Discover Weekly playlists had been streamed 1.7 billion times.[245]

In March 2016, Spotify launched six playlists branded as Fresh Finds, including the main playlist and Fire Emoji, Basement, Hiptronix, Six Strings, and Cyclone (hip-hop, electronic, pop, guitar-driven, and experimental music respectively). The playlists spotlight songs by lesser-known musicians and their songs.[246]

In August 2016, Spotify launched Release Radar, a personalized playlist that allows users to stay up-to-date on new music released by the artists they listen to the most. It also helps users discover new music, by mixing in other artists' music. The playlist is updated every Friday, and is a maximum of two hours in length.[247][248]

The RADAR program is Spotify's global artist program, exclusively designed to help emerging artists worldwide reach the next stage in their careers and strengthen their connection to listeners. [citation needed]

Spotify provides artists taking part in RADAR with resources and access to integrated marketing opportunities to help them boost their careers, in addition to expanded reach and exposure to 178 markets worldwide.[249]

In September 2016, Spotify introduced Daily Mix, a series of (up to six) playlists that mixes the user's favorite tracks with new, recommended songs. New users can access Daily Mix after approximately two weeks of listening to music through Spotify. Daily Mixes were only available on the Android and iOS mobile apps at launch, but the feature was later expanded to Spotify's computer app in December 2016.[citation needed]

In 2017, Spotify introduced RapCaviar, a hip-hop playlist.[250][251] Rap Caviar had 10.9 million followers by 2019, becoming one of Spotify's Top 5 playlists.[252] RapCaviar was originally curated by Tuma Basa.[253] It was relaunched by Carl Chery in 2019.[254]

In July 2018, Spotify introduced a beta feature that gives artists, labels, and teams an easy way to submit unreleased music directly to Spotify's editorial team for playlist consideration. [citation needed]

In June 2019, Spotify launched a custom playlist titled "Your Daily Drive" that closely replicates the drive time format of many traditional radio stations. It combines short-form podcast news updates from The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and PRI with a mix of a user's favorite songs and artists interspersed with tracks the listener has yet to discover. "Your Daily Drive", which is found in a user's library under the "Made For You" section, updates throughout the day.[255]

In May 2020, Spotify introduced the Group Session feature. This feature allows two or more Premium users in the same location to share control over the music that is being played.[256] The Group Session feature was later expanded to allow any Premium user to join/participate in a Group Session, with a special link the host can send to participants.[257]

In July 2021, Spotify launched the "What's New" feed, a section that collects all new releases and episodes from artists and podcasts that the user follows. The feature is represented by a bell icon on the app's main page and is available on iOS and Android.[258]

In November 2021, Spotify launched the City and Local Pulse charts, aimed at representing the songs listened to in major cities around the world. The charts are available for 200 cities with the most listeners on Spotify.[259]

In 2023, Spotify launched additional features to help independent artists distributing their music on the platform reach a wider array of potential fans. One such feature is a tool that Spotify rolled out in March 2023, called "Discovery Mode". Discovery Mode allows artists who meet certain criteria and have a Spotify For Artists account to submit qualifying songs for Spotify's in-house promotion services. Spotify helps place songs campaigned through Discovery Mode on listeners' personal algorithmic playlists. Discovery Mode does not require an upfront budget. Instead, a 30% commission is applied to recording royalties generated from all streams of selected songs in Discovery Mode contexts - Spotify Radio and Autoplay. All other streams of selected songs outside of Spotify Radio and Autoplay remain commission-free.[260]

In September 2023, Spotify introduced its latest playlist update 'Daylist', a new kind of playlist which adapts to the user's mood throughout the day.[261][262]

Listening limitations

Spotify has experimented with different limitations to users' listening on the Free service tier.

In April 2011, Spotify announced via a blog post that they would drastically cut the amount of music that free members could access, effective 1 May 2011. The post stated that all free members would be limited to ten hours of music streaming per month, and in addition, individual tracks were limited to five plays. New users were exempt from these changes for six months.[263] In March 2013, the five-play individual track limit was removed for users in the United Kingdom, and media reports stated that users in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand never had the limit in the first place.[264][265]

In December 2013, CEO Daniel Ek announced that Android and iOS smartphone users with the free service tier could listen to music in Shuffle mode, a feature in which users can stream music by specific artists and playlists without being able to pick which songs to hear. Mobile listening previously was not allowed in Spotify Free accounts. Ek stated that "We're giving people the best free music experience in the history of the smartphone."[266][267] This shuffle feature is not available on Android and iOS tablets, or computers.

In January 2014, Spotify removed all time limits for Free users on all platforms, including on computers, which previously had a 10-hour monthly listening limit after a 6-month grace period.[268][269]

In April 2018, Spotify began to allow Free users to listen on-demand to whatever songs they want for an unlimited number of times, as long as the song is on one of the user's 15 personalized discovery playlists.[270]

Before May 2020, all service users were limited to 10,000 songs in their library, after which they would receive an "Epic collection, friend" notification and would not be able to save more music to their library.[271] Spotify later removed this limit.[271]

Technical information

Audio quality options
Desktop, mobile, and tablet Web player
Music
Standard quality options
HE-AAC v2 24 kbit/s AAC 128 kbit/s
Vorbis 96 kbit/s
Vorbis 160 kbit/s
Premium quality options
Vorbis 320 kbit/s AAC 256 kbit/s
Podcasts
HE-AAC v2 24 kbit/s AAC 128 kbit/s
Vorbis 96 kbit/s

Spotify is proprietary and uses digital rights management (DRM) controls.[272] Spotify's terms and conditions do not permit users to reverse-engineer the application.

Spotify allows users to add local audio files for music not in its catalog into the user's library through Spotify's desktop application, and then allows users to synchronize those music files to Spotify's mobile apps or other computers over the same Wi-Fi network as the primary computer by creating a Spotify playlist, and adding those local audio files to the playlist. Audio files must either be in the .mp3, .mp4 (.mp4 files that have video streams are not supported), or .m4p media formats. This feature is available only for Premium subscribers.

Spotify has a median playback latency of 265 ms (including local cache).[273]

In April 2014, Spotify moved away from the peer-to-peer (P2P) system they had used to distribute music to users. Previously, a desktop user would listen to music from one of three sources: a cached file on the computer, one of Spotify's servers, or from other subscribers through the P2P system. P2P, a well-established Internet distribution system, served as an alternative that reduced Spotify's server resources and costs. However, Spotify ended the P2P setup in 2014, with Spotify's Alison Bonny telling TorrentFreak: "We're gradually phasing out the use of our desktop P2P technology which has helped our users enjoy their music both speedily and seamlessly. We're now at a stage where we can power music delivery through our growing number of servers and ensure our users continue to receive a best-in-class service."[274]

Originally Spotify had their own servers but in 2016 most of their infrastructure was migrated to Google Cloud.[275]

Car Thing

Spotify first announced a voice-activated music-streaming gadget for cars in May 2019. Named the Car Thing, it represents the music-streaming service's first entry into hardware devices.[276] In early 2020, as part of filings to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), submitted images of the device that make it seem much more like a miniature infotainment screen.[277] In April 2021, Spotify rolled out its own voice assistant with the hands-free wake word: "Hey Spotify".[278] Using this, users can perform various actions such as pulling playlists, launching radio stations, playing or pausing songs. This voice-based virtual assistant may be intended more towards Spotify's own hardware such as its "Car Thing".[279]

Geographic availability

The company is incorporated in Luxembourg as Spotify Technology S.A.,[280] and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with offices in 16 countries around the world.[281][282][283] Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it temporarily closed its office in Russia[284] and indefinitely suspended all of its services in the country.[285] In 2023, it announced that it would leave Uruguay due to a copyright law.[286] However, it reversed its decision a few weeks later.[287]

 
Countries where Spotify is available

Sponsorship

Accolades

In September 2010, the World Economic Forum (WEF) selected Spotify as a Technology Pioneer for 2011.[330][331]

Criticism

Main article: Criticism of Spotify

Spotify has attracted significant criticism since its 2006 launch.[332] The primary point of criticism centres around what artists, music creators, and the media have described as "unsustainable" compensation.[333] Unlike physical sales or legal downloads (both of which were the main medium of listening to music at the time), which pay artists a fixed amount per song or album sold, Spotify pays royalties based on their "market share": the number of streams for their songs as a proportion of total songs streamed on the service. Spotify distributes approximately 70% of its total revenue to rights-holders, who will then pay artists based on their individual agreements.[146] Worldwide, 30,000 musicians have joined the organization UnionOfMusicians (UMAW).[334] UMAW organized protests in 31 cities in March 2021 and its campaign #JusticeAtSpotify is demanding more transparency and a compensation of one cent per stream.[334]

Spotify has been criticised by artists and producers including Taylor Swift and Thom Yorke, who have argued that Spotify does not fairly compensate musicians, and both withdrew their music from the service.[335][336] Their catalogues returned to the service in 2017.[337][338] While the streaming music industry in general faces the same critique about inadequate payments,[339] Spotify, being the leading service,[340] faces particular scrutiny due to its free service tier, allowing users to listen to music for free, though with advertisements between tracks. The free service tier has led to a variety of major album releases being delayed or withdrawn from the service.[341][342][343] In response to the allegations about unfair compensation, Spotify claims that it is benefitting the industry by migrating users away from unauthorized copying and less monetized platforms to its free service tier, and then downgrades that service until they upgrade to paid accounts.[146] A study has shown that record labels keep a high amount of the money earned from Spotify,[344][345] and the CEO of Merlin Network, a representative body for over 10,000 independent labels, has also observed significant yearly growth rates in earnings from Spotify, while clarifying that Spotify pays labels, not artists.[346] In 2017, as part of its efforts to renegotiate licence deals for an interest in going public, Spotify announced that artists would be able to make albums temporarily exclusive to paid subscribers if the albums are part of Universal Music Group or the Merlin Network.

In 2016, Spotify was criticized for allegedly making certain artists' music harder to find than others, as these artists would release their music to the rival streaming service Apple Music before releasing it to Spotify.[347]

In May 2018, Spotify attracted criticism for its "Hate Content & Hateful Conduct policy" that removed the music of R. Kelly and XXXTentacion from its editorial and algorithmic playlists because "When we look at promotion, we look at issues around hateful conduct, where you have an artist or another creator who has done something off-platform that is so particularly out of line with our values, egregious, in a way that it becomes something that we don't want to associate ourselves with." R. Kelly has faced accusations of sexual abuse, while XXXTentacion was on trial for domestic abuse in a case that did not reach a judgement before his death that June.[348] This policy was revoked in June because the company deemed the original wording to be too "vague"; they stated that "Across all genres, our role is not to regulate artists. Therefore, we are moving away from implementing a policy around artist conduct".[349] However, artists such as Gary Glitter and Lostprophets are still hidden from Spotify's radio stations.[350]

According to some computer science and music experts, various music communities are often ignored or overlooked by music streaming services such as Spotify.[351][352][353] The most commonly perceived error is said to be caused by a lack of diverse scope within curation staff, including overlooking mainstay artists in large genres, potentially causing a categorical homogenization of musical styles; even impacting mainline artists like within hip hop with A Tribe Called Quest.[352]

In March 2021, David Dayen argued in The American Prospect that musicians were in peril due to monopolies in streaming services like Spotify.[354] Daniel Ek, co-founder and CEO of Spotify, discussed "what he called an artist-friendly streaming solution". He explained, "An extension of the internet radio craze of the early 2000s, Spotify would license content from record labels, and then support artists as people listened to their music."[354]

In January 2022, 270 scientists, physicians, professors, doctors, and healthcare workers wrote an open letter to Spotify expressing concern over "false and societally harmful assertions" on Joe Rogan's podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, and asked Spotify to "establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform". The 270 signatories objected to Rogan broadcasting COVID-19 misinformation, citing "a highly controversial" episode featuring guest Robert Malone (#1757).[355][356] On 26 January, Neil Young removed his music from Spotify after they refused to remove the podcast.[357] Other artists and podcasters, such as Joni Mitchell, Nils Lofgren, Brené Brown, and Crosby, Stills, & Nash, also announced a boycott of Spotify.[358][359][360][361] Spotify promised to add content advisories for anything containing discussions related to COVID-19 and posted additional rules.[362]

See also

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January 01, 1970
spotify, confused, with, shopify, swedish, ˈspɔ, tːɪfaj, swedish, audio, streaming, media, service, provider, founded, april, 2006, daniel, martin, lorentzon, largest, music, streaming, service, providers, with, over, million, monthly, active, users, including. Not to be confused with Shopify Spotify ˈ s p ɒ t ɪ f aɪ Swedish ˈspɔ tːɪfaj is a Swedish 6 audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon 7 It is one of the largest music streaming service providers with over 615 million monthly active users including 239 million paying subscribers as of March 2024 4 8 Spotify is listed through a Luxembourg City domiciled holding company Spotify Technology S A 1 on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American depositary receipts Spotify Technology S A Type of businessPublicTraded asNYSE SPOTRussell 1000 componentFounded23 April 2006 18 years ago 2006 04 23 HeadquartersStockholm Sweden 1 2 Country of originSwedenNo of locations15 offices 2 Founder s Daniel EkMartin LorentzonKey peopleDaniel Ek Chairman amp CEO Martin Lorentzon treasurer IndustryAudio streamingPodcastingRevenue 13 25 billion 2023 3 Operating income 446 million 2023 3 Net income 532 million 2023 3 Total assets 8 35 billion 2023 3 Total equity 2 52 billion 2023 3 Employees7 721 March 2024 4 SubsidiariesSpotify AB 5 1 43 Spotify USA Inc 1 43 Spotify Ltd UK 1 43 Several other regional subsidiaries 1 43 Tencent Music 16 9 URLspotify wbr comRegistrationRequiredUsersFree 388 millionPaying 239 millionTotal MAU 615 million March 2024 update 3 46 Launched7 October 2008 15 years ago 2008 10 07 Spotify offers digital copyright restricted recorded audio content including more than 100 million songs and six million podcast titles from record labels and media companies 8 As a freemium service basic features are free with advertisements and limited control while additional features such as offline listening and commercial free listening are offered via paid subscriptions Users can search for music based on artist album or genre and can create edit and share playlists Spotify is available in most of Europe as well as Africa the Americas Asia and Oceania with a total availability in 184 markets 9 Its users and subscribers are based largely in the US and Europe jointly accounting for around 53 of users and 67 of revenue 10 It has no presence in mainland China where the market is dominated by QQ Music The service is available on most devices including Windows macOS and Linux computers iOS and Android smartphones and tablets smart home devices such as the Amazon Echo and Google Nest lines of products and digital media players like Roku 11 As of December 2023 Spotify was the 47th most visited website in the world with 24 78 of its traffic coming from the United States followed by Brazil with 6 51 according to data provided by Semrush 12 13 Unlike physical or download sales which pay artists a fixed price per song or album sold Spotify pays royalties based on the number of artist streams as a proportion of total songs streamed It distributes approximately 70 of its total revenue to rights holders often record labels who then pay artists based on individual agreements 14 While certain musicians have voiced objections to Spotify s royalty structure and its effect on record sales others laud the service for offering a lawful option to combat piracy and for remunerating artists each time their music is played 15 Contents 1 History 1 1 Early international launches 1 2 Other developments 1 2 1 Streaming records 1 2 2 User growth 1 2 3 Premium exclusive albums 1 2 4 Direct public offering 1 2 5 2020 hacking incident 1 2 6 Acquisitions podcasting and exclusivity deals 1 2 7 Company partnerships 1 2 8 Dispute with Apple 1 2 9 Dispute with Kakao Entertainment Corp 1 2 10 Functionality 1 2 11 NFTs 1 2 12 Artificial streams 2 Business model 2 1 Accounts and subscriptions 2 2 Monetization 2 2 1 Funding 2 3 Downloads 2 4 Spotify for Artists 2 5 Industry initiatives 2 6 Stations by Spotify 3 Platforms 3 1 Features 3 1 1 Playlists and discovery 3 2 Listening limitations 3 3 Technical information 3 4 Car Thing 4 Geographic availability 5 Sponsorship 6 Accolades 7 Criticism 8 See also 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External linksHistorySpotify was founded in 2006 in Stockholm Sweden 16 by Daniel Ek former CTO of Stardoll and Martin Lorentzon co founder of Tradedoubler 17 18 According to Ek the company s title was initially misheard from a name shouted by Lorentzon Later they conceived a portmanteau of spot and identify 19 Early international launches nbsp Daniel Ek addressing Spotify staff in 2010 nbsp Former Spotify headquarters in Stockholm In February 2010 Spotify opened public registration for the free service tier in the United Kingdom 17 Registrations surged following the release of the mobile service leading Spotify to halt registration for the free service in September returning the UK to an invitation only policy 20 Spotify launched in the United States in July 2011 and offered a six month ad supported trial period during which new users could listen to an unlimited amount of music for free In January 2012 the free trial periods began to expire limiting users to ten hours of streaming each month and five plays per song 21 Using PC streaming a similar structure to the one used today allowed the listener to play songs freely but with ads every 4 7 songs depending on listening duration Later that same year in March Spotify removed all limits on the free service tier indefinitely including mobile devices 22 In April 2016 Ek and Lorentzon wrote an open letter to Swedish politicians demanding action in three areas that they claimed hindered the company s ability to recruit top talent as Spotify grew including access to flexible housing better education in the programming and development fields and stock options Ek and Lorentzon wrote that to continue competing in a global economy politicians needed to respond with new policies or thousands of Spotify jobs would be moved from Sweden to the United States 23 In February 2017 Spotify announced the expansion of its United States operations in Lower Manhattan New York City at 4 World Trade Center adding approximately 1 000 new jobs and retaining 832 existing positions 24 The company s US headquarters are in New York City s Flatiron District 25 On 14 November 2018 the company announced 13 new markets in the MENA region including the creation of a new Arabic hub and several playlists 26 Other developments Streaming records Main articles List of most streamed artists on Spotify and List of Spotify streaming records In October 2015 Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran became the first song to pass 500 million streams 27 A month later Spotify announced that Lean On by Major Lazer and DJ Snake featuring MO was its most streamed song of all time with over 525 million streams worldwide 28 In April 2016 Rihanna overtook Justin Bieber to become the biggest artist on Spotify with 31 3 million monthly active listeners 29 In May 2016 Rihanna was overtaken by Drake with 31 85 million monthly listeners 30 In December 2016 Drake s just under 36 million monthly listeners were overtaken by the Weeknd s 36 068 million 31 Later that same month Drake s song One Dance became the first song to hit one billion streams on Spotify 32 33 Upon its release in August 2017 the single Look What You Made Me Do by Taylor Swift earned over eight million streams within 24 hours breaking the record for the most single day streams for a track 34 On 19 June 2018 XXXTentacion s hit single Sad broke Swift s single day streaming record amassing 10 4 million streams the day after he was fatally shot in Florida 35 User growth In March 2011 Spotify announced a customer base of 1 million paying subscribers across Europe 36 and by September 2011 the number of paying subscribers had doubled to two million 37 In August 2012 Time reported 15 million active users four million being paying Spotify subscribers 38 User growth continued reaching 20 million total active users including five million paying customers globally and one million paying customers in the United States in December 2012 39 By March 2013 the service had 24 million active users six million being paying subscribers 40 which grew to 40 million users including ten million paying in May 2014 41 60 million users including 15 million paying in December 2014 75 million users 20 million paying in June 2015 30 million paying subscribers in March 2016 42 40 million paying subscribers in September 2016 43 and 100 million total users in June 2016 44 In April 2020 Spotify reached 133 million premium users 45 In countries affected by the COVID 19 pandemic Spotify registered a fall in users in late February but it has seen a recovery 46 In March 2022 Spotify had 182 million premium subscribers 47 At the end of Q2 2022 Spotify reported 188 million paying subscribers and 433 million total users 48 Premium exclusive albums The Financial Times reported in March 2017 that as part of its efforts to renegotiate new licensing deals with music labels Spotify and major record labels had agreed that Spotify would restrict some newly released albums to its Premium tier with Spotify receiving a reduction in royalty fees to do so Select albums would be available only on the Premium tier for a period of time before general release The deal may be months away from being finalized but Spotify is said to have cleared this particular clause with major record labels 49 50 51 New reports in April confirmed that Spotify and Universal Music Group had reached an agreement to allow artists part of Universal to limit their new album releases to the Premium service tier for a maximum of two weeks Spotify CEO Daniel Ek commented that We know that not every album by every artist should be released the same way and we ve worked hard with UMG to develop a new flexible release policy Starting today Universal artists can choose to release new albums on premium only for two weeks offering subscribers an earlier chance to explore the complete creative work while the singles are available across Spotify for all our listeners to enjoy 52 53 54 It was announced later in April that this type of agreement would be extended to indie artists signed to the Merlin Network agency 55 56 Direct public offering Spotify went public on the stock market in April 2018 using a direct public offering rather than an initial public offering This approach is not intended to raise fresh capital but to let investors get their returns 57 58 59 Morgan Stanley is the company s slated advisor on the matter 59 After making its debut on the New York Stock Exchange on 3 April 2018 CNBC reported that Spotify opened at 165 90 more than 25 above its reference price of 132 60 2020 hacking incident On 3 July 2020 cybersecurity firm VPNMentor discovered a database containing 380 million individual records including the logins and passwords of Spotify users 61 The database was thought to be evidence of an impending credential stuffing cyberattack targeting Spotify 62 as it contained the credentials of up to 350 000 compromised user accounts 63 In response to the attack Spotify issued a rolling reset of passwords for affected accounts in November 2020 64 Acquisitions podcasting and exclusivity deals In May 2013 Spotify acquired music discovery app Tunigo 65 In March 2014 they acquired The Echo Nest a music intelligence company 66 67 In June 2015 Spotify announced they had acquired Seed Scientific a data science consulting firm and analytics company In a comment to TechCrunch Spotify said that Seed Scientific s team would lead an advanced analytics unit within the company focused on developing data services 68 69 In January 2016 they acquired social and messaging startups Cord Project and Soundwave 70 followed in April 2016 by CrowdAlbum a startup that collects photos and videos of performances shared on social networks and would enhance the development of products that help artists understand activate and monetize their audiences 71 In November 2016 Spotify acquired Preact a cloud based platform and service developed for companies that operate on subscription models which helps reduce churn and build up their subscriber numbers 72 In March 2017 Spotify acquired Sonalytic an audio detection startup for an undisclosed amount of money Spotify stated that Sonalytic would be used to improve the company s personalized playlists better match songs with compositions and improve the company s publishing data system 73 Later that month Spotify also acquired MightyTV an app connected to television streaming services including Netflix and HBO Go that recommends content to users Spotify intended to use MightyTV to improve its advertising efforts on the free tier of service 74 In April 2017 they acquired Mediachain a blockchain startup that had been developing a decentralized database system for managing attribution and other metadata for media 75 76 This was followed in May 2017 with the acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Niland which uses technology to improve personalisation and recommendation features for users 77 78 In November 2017 Spotify acquired Soundtrap an online music studio startup 79 80 On 12 April 2018 Spotify acquired the music licensing platform Loudr 81 In August 2018 Spotify bought the exclusive rights to The Joe Budden Podcast and expanded the show to a twice weekly schedule 82 On 6 February 2019 Spotify acquired the podcast networks Gimlet Media and Anchor FM Inc with the goal of establishing themselves as a leading figure in podcasting 83 84 85 On 26 March 2019 Spotify announced they would acquire another podcast network Parcast 86 87 On 12 September 2019 Spotify acquired SoundBetter a music production marketplace for people in the music industry to collaborate on projects and distribute music tracks for licensing 88 On 19 November 2019 Spotify announced the acquisition of the exclusive rights to The Last Podcast on the Left 89 On 5 February 2020 Spotify announced its intent to acquire Bill Simmons sports and pop culture blog and podcast network The Ringer for an undisclosed amount On 19 May 2020 Spotify acquired exclusive rights to stream the popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience beginning in September of that year under an agreement valued at around US 100 million equivalent to 116 000 000 in 2023 90 91 92 93 In November 2020 Spotify announced plans to acquire Megaphone from The Slate Group for US 235 million 94 In March 2021 Spotify acquired app developer Betty Labs and their live social audio app Locker Room 95 On 12 May 2021 Armchair Expert announced on Instagram that the podcast would be available exclusively on Spotify beginning 1 July saying they would continue to maintain the same creative control over the show after the move 96 97 Locker Room was rebranded in June 2021 as Spotify Greenroom and turned into a Clubhouse competitor 98 The same month Spotify acquired Podz a podcast discovery startup 99 Also the same month Spotify bought the exclusive rights to the Call Her Daddy podcast 100 In November 2021 Spotify acquired audiobook company Findaway including its publishing imprint OrangeSky Audio 101 In December 2021 Spotify acquired Whooshkaa a podcast tech company that develops specialized technology that allows radio broadcasters to easily turn their existing audio content into on demand podcast programming 102 In February 2022 Spotify acquired Chartable and Podsights Both are podcast advertising companies 103 In 2022 Spotify Greenroom rebranded as Spotify Live 104 which was subsequently planned to be shut down in April 2023 105 In June 2022 Spotify acquired Sonantic a synthetic voice and video developer 106 In July 2022 Spotify acquired Heardle a Wordle inspired music trivia game for an undisclosed amount 107 108 Heardle was shut down in May 2023 109 In October 2022 Spotify acquired the Dublin based content moderation startup Kinzen 110 In 2023 Spotify merged Anchor into their Spotify for Podcasters tool a rebranding move and to organize its tools for creating managing growing and monetizing their content in one place 111 Company partnerships In January 2015 Sony announced PlayStation Music a new music service with Spotify as its exclusive partner PlayStation Music incorporates the Spotify service into Sony s PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 gaming consoles and Sony Xperia mobile devices The service launched on 30 March 2015 112 In March 2017 Spotify announced a partnership with the South by Southwest SXSW conference for 2017 presenting specific content in special playlists through an SXSW hub in Spotify s apps The integration also enabled Spotify within the SXSW GO app to help users discover and explore artists performing at the conference Two more partnerships were announced in March one with WNYC Studios and one with Waze The WNYC Studios partnership brought various podcasts from WNYC to Spotify including Note to Self On the Media and Here s the Thing Spotify also announced that the third season of WNYC Studios 2 Dope Queens podcast would premiere with a two week exclusivity period on the service on 21 March 2017 113 The Waze partnership allows Waze app users to view directions to destinations within the Spotify app and access their Spotify playlists through the Waze app 114 In October 2017 Microsoft announced that it would be ending its Groove Music streaming service by December with all music from users transferring to Spotify as part of a new partnership 115 In December Spotify and Tencent s music arm Tencent Music Entertainment TME agreed to swap stakes and make an investment in each other s music businesses 116 117 As a result of this transaction Spotify gained a 9 stake in TME with TME gaining a 7 5 stake in Spotify 118 In February 2018 Spotify integrated with the gaming oriented voice chat service Discord on desktop clients allowing users to display their currently playing song as a rich presence on their profile and invite other users with Spotify Premium to group listening parties 119 In April Spotify announced a discounted entertainment bundle with video on demand provider Hulu which included discounted rates for university students 120 In May 2020 Spotify teamed up with ESPN and Netflix to curate podcasts around their Michael Jordan documentary The Last Dance 121 and in September Spotify signed a deal with Chernin Entertainment to produce movies and TV shows 122 In 2020 and 2021 Spotify and DC a brand at the time under Warner Bros Entertainment signed deals to create audio shows on the platform around characters such as Catwoman Wonder Woman the Riddler Batgirl Superman and Lois Lane among others 123 124 In 2022 Spotify became the official streaming partner of FC Barcelona 125 In May 2022 Spotify announced a partnership with the online game platform and game creation system the Roblox Corporation the partnership saw Spotify as the first streaming brand to have a presence within the game with the launch of Spotify Island 126 In March 2023 Spotify announced a partnership with Patreon which Spotify claimed would enable creators to expand their creative business through direct payments from fans and allow fans to listen to their Patreon content on Spotify 111 127 Dispute with Apple See also Criticism of Apple Inc Spotify In July 2015 Spotify launched an email campaign to urge its App Store subscribers to cancel their subscriptions and start new ones through its website bypassing the 30 transaction fee for in app purchases required for iOS applications by technology company Apple Inc 128 A later update to the Spotify app on iOS was rejected by Apple prompting Spotify s general counsel Horacio Gutierrez to write a letter to Apple s then general counsel Bruce Sewell stating This latest episode raises serious concerns under both U S and EU competition law It continues a troubling pattern of behavior by Apple to exclude and diminish the competitiveness of Spotify on iOS and as a rival to Apple Music particularly when seen against the backdrop of Apple s previous anticompetitive conduct aimed at Spotify we cannot stand by as Apple uses the App Store approval process as a weapon to harm competitors 129 Sewell responded to the letter We find it troubling that you are asking for exemptions to the rules we apply to all developers and are publicly resorting to rumors and half truths about our service He also elaborated that Our guidelines apply equally to all app developers whether they are game developers e book sellers video streaming services or digital music distributors and regardless of whether they compete against Apple We did not alter our behavior or our rules when we introduced our own music streaming service or when Spotify became a competitor Furthermore he stated that There is nothing in Apple s conduct that amounts to a violation of applicable antitrust laws Far from it I would be happy to facilitate an expeditious review and approval of your app as soon as you provide us with something that is compliant with the App Store s rules 130 131 In the following months Spotify joined several other companies in filing a letter with the European Union s antitrust body indirectly accusing Apple and Google of abusing their privileged position at the top of the market by referring to some companies as having transformed into gatekeepers rather than gateways 132 133 The complaint led to the European Union announcing that it would prepare an initiative by the end of 2017 for a possible law addressing unfair competition practices 134 135 Spotify released the first version of its Apple Watch app in November 2018 allowing playback control of the iPhone via the watch Users can also choose which devices to play music on via Bluetooth 136 In a further escalation of the dispute with Apple on 13 March 2019 Spotify filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission over unfair app store practices Two days later Apple responded stating that the claim was misleading rhetoric and that Spotify wanted benefits of a free app without being a free app Spotify responded with a statement calling Apple a monopolist and stated that they had only filed the complaint as Apple s actions hurt competition and consumers and clearly violated the law It also said that Apple believed Spotify users on the app store were Apple s customers and not Spotify s 137 Apple responded to Spotify s claims by counter claiming that Spotify s market reach and user base would not have been possible without the Apple App Store platform Additionally Apple stated that they have attempted to work with Spotify to integrate the service better with Apple s products such as Siri and Apple Watch 138 In 2019 under iOS 13 it became possible to play Spotify music using Siri commands 139 Spotify was one of the first companies to support Epic Games in their lawsuit against Apple which was filed after Epic also tried to bypass Apple s 30 fee for microtransactions in Fortnite In September 2020 Spotify Epic and other companies founded The Coalition for App Fairness which aims for better conditions for the inclusion of apps in app stores 140 Dispute with Kakao Entertainment Corp On 1 March 2021 Spotify confirmed that its platform would no longer have access to music from artists represented by Kakao Entertainment However after talking it out and renewing the contracts between the two Spotify later announced that they had reached an agreement with Kakao Entertainment allowing their content to be available once again on the platform across the globe 141 Functionality In November 2021 Spotify hid the shuffle button for albums following a request by singer Adele arguing that tracks in albums are supposed to be played back in the order specified by the artist in order to tell a story 142 NFTs In May 2022 Spotify began testing a feature that would allow select artists to promote their NFTs via their profiles Some artists included in this initial test phase were Steve Aoki and The Wombats The testing was very limited in nature and was only available on Spotify s Android app in the US 143 Artificial streams In May 2023 Spotify removed tens of thousands of songs roughly 7 of the tracks uploaded by the Boomy due to suspected artificial streaming the practice of using online bots to inflate the listening statistics 144 Business model nbsp Spotify offices in Stockholm 2024 Spotify operates under a freemium business model basic services are free while additional features are offered via paid subscriptions Spotify generates revenue by selling premium streaming subscriptions to users and advertising placements to third parties Some of the premium options users may choose from include individual duo family and student 145 In December 2013 the company launched a new website Spotify for Artists explaining its business model and revenue data Spotify gets its content from major record labels as well as independent artists and pays copyright holders royalties for streaming music The company pays 70 of its total revenue to rights holders Spotify for Artists states that the company does not have a fixed per play rate instead it considers factors such as the user s home country and the individual artist s royalty rate Rights holders received an average per play payout between 000029 and 0084 146 In 2013 Spotify revealed that it paid artists an average of 0 007 per stream Music Week editor Tim Ingham commented that while the figure may initially seem alarming he noted Unlike buying a CD or download streaming is not a one off payment Hundreds of millions of streams of tracks are happening every day which quickly multiplies the potential revenues on offer and is a constant long term source of income for artists 147 According to Ben Sisario of The New York Times approximately 13 000 out of seven million artists 0 19 on Spotify generated 50 000 equivalent to 58 000 in 2023 or more in payments in 2020 148 In November 2023 Spotify announced a new royalty model taking effect in 2024 aiming to reduce the amount of fraudulent royalties collected from functional non music tracks with short lengths such as environmental sounds and white noise Under the model tracks must reach at least 1 000 listens in 12 months to become eligible for royalties functional tracks will require a longer amount of play time to count as a listen and distributors will face reprimands if their content is responsible for generating fradulant royalties The changes faced a mixed reaction from the music industry who believed that it would be detrimental to emerging musicians but would make a larger share of total royalty payments available to musicians 149 150 151 Accounts and subscriptions As of August 2022 the three Spotify subscription types are Type Remove ads Mobile listening Sound quality Listen offline Spotify Connect Spotify Free No Limited shuffle only mode Up to 160 kbit s Vorbis or 128 kbit s Advanced Audio Coding for the web player No Limited Spotify Connect device using the new SDK Spotify Premium Yes Yes Up to 320 kbit s Vorbis or 256 kbit s AAC for the web player Yes Yes None of these subscriptions limit listening time In March 2014 Spotify introduced a discounted Premium subscription tier for students in which students in the United States enrolled in a university pay half price for a Premium subscription 152 In April 2017 the discount was expanded to 33 more countries 153 154 Spotify introduced a Family subscription in October 2014 which allows up to 5 family members to have a premium subscription 155 156 In May 2016 the limit was changed to 6 family members and the price was reduced 157 The Family subscription provides access to Spotify Kids 158 In November 2018 Spotify announced it was opening up Spotify Connect to all of the users using its Free service however these changes still required products supporting Spotify Connect to support the latest software development kit 159 160 In July 2020 161 Spotify added another tier Premium Duo 162 This is aimed at couples and for 12 99 it lets up to 2 people living at the same address share a subscription In February 2021 Spotify announced their plans to introduce a HiFi subscription to offer listening in high fidelity lossless sound quality The rollout for the HiFi tier is yet to be announced 163 In August 2021 Spotify launched a test subscription tier called Spotify Plus The subscription costs 0 99 and is supposed to be a combination of the free and premium tiers Subscribers to this plan will still receive ads but will get the ability to listen to songs without shuffle mode and skip any number of tracks The company reported that the tier conditions may change before its full launch 164 This might have been discontinued at least in some regions according to an email sent to a redditor 165 Monetization In 2008 just after launch the company made a loss of 31 8 million Swedish kronor US 4 4 million 166 In October 2010 Wired reported that Spotify was making more money for labels in Sweden than any other retailer online or off 167 Years after growth and expansion a November 2012 report suggested strong momentum for the company In 2011 it reported a near US 60 million net loss from revenue of 244 million equivalent to 326 200 000 in 2023 while it was expected to generate a net loss of 40 million equivalent to 52 490 000 in 2023 from revenue of 500 million in 2012 equivalent to 656 100 000 in 2023 168 Another source of income was music purchases from within the app however this service was removed in January 2013 169 In May 2016 Spotify announced Sponsored Playlists a monetisation opportunity in which brands can specify the audiences they have in mind with Spotify matching the marketer with suitable music in a playlist 170 171 That September Spotify announced that it had paid a total of over 5 billion to the music industry In June 2017 as part of renegotiated licenses with Universal Music Group and Merlin Network Spotify s financial filings revealed its agreement to pay more than 2 billion equivalent to 2 445 000 000 in 2023 in minimum payments over the next two years 172 173 174 As of 2017 update Spotify was not yet a profitable company 175 Spotify s revenue for Q1 2020 amounted to 1 85 billion 2 billion A large part of this sum 1 7 billion 1 84 billion came from Spotify Premium subscribers Gross profit in the same quarter amounted to 472 million 511 million with an operating loss of 17 million 18 million 176 Despite subscriber and podcasts growth during Q2 of 2020 Spotify reported a loss of 356 million 1 91 per share The deeper loss came as a result of the company s tax debt to over one third of its employees in Sweden 177 Funding In February 2010 Spotify received a small investment from Founders Fund where board member Sean Parker was recruited to assist Spotify in winning the labels over in the world s largest music market In June 2011 Spotify secured 100 million of funding equivalent to 133 700 000 in 2023 and planned to use this to support its US launch 178 The new round of funding valued the company at 1 billion 179 A Goldman Sachs led round of funding closed in November 2012 raising around 100 million equivalent to 131 200 000 in 2023 at a 3 billion valuation equivalent to 3 937 000 000 in 2023 In April 2015 Spotify began another round of fundraising with a report from The Wall Street Journal stating it was seeking 400 million equivalent to 502 800 000 in 2023 which would value the company at 8 4 billion equivalent to 10 558 000 000 in 2023 The financing was closed in June 2015 with Spotify raising 526 million equivalent to 661 100 000 in 2023 at a value of 8 53 billion equivalent to 10 721 000 000 in 2023 180 In January 2016 Spotify raised another 500 million equivalent to 622 500 000 in 2023 through convertible bonds In March 2016 Spotify raised 1 billion equivalent to 1 245 000 000 in 2023 in financing by debt plus a discount of 20 on shares once the initial public offering IPO of shares takes place 181 The company was according to TechCrunch planning to launch on the stock market in 2017 but in 2017 it was seen as planning on doing the IPO in 2018 in order to build up a better balance sheet and work on shifting its business model to improve its margins 182 Downloads In March 2009 Spotify began offering music downloads in the United Kingdom France and Spain Users could purchase tracks from Spotify which partnered with 7digital to incorporate the feature The ability to purchase and download music tracks via the app was removed on 4 January 2013 169 Spotify for Artists In November 2015 Spotify introduced a Fan Insights panel in limited beta form letting artists and managers access data on monthly listeners geographical data demographic information music preferences and more 183 In April 2017 the panel was upgraded to leave beta status renamed as Spotify for Artists and opened to all artists and managers Additional features include the ability to get verified status with a blue checkmark on an artist s profile receiving artist support from Spotify customising the profile page with photos and promoting a certain song as their pick 184 185 In September 2018 Spotify announced Upload Beta allowing artists to upload directly to the platform instead of going through a distributor or record label 186 The feature was rolled out to a small number of US based artists by invitation only Uploading was free and artists received 100 of the revenue from songs they uploaded artists were able to control when their release went public On 1 July 2019 Spotify deprecated the program and announced plans to stop accepting direct uploads by the end of that month and eventually remove all content uploaded in this manner 187 Industry initiatives In June 2017 Variety reported that Spotify would announce Secret Genius a new initiative aimed at highlighting songwriters and producers and the effect those people have on the music industry and the artists careers The project which would feature awards Songshops songwriting workshops curated playlists and podcasts is an effort to shine a light on these people behind the scenes who play such a big role in some of the most important moments of our lives When the general public hears a song they automatically associate it with the artist who sings it not the people behind the scenes who make it happen so we thought the title Secret Genius was appropriate Spotify s former Global Head of Creator Services Troy Carter told Variety the first awards ceremony would take place in late 2017 needs update and was intended to honour the top songwriters producers and publishers in the industry as well as up and coming talent Additionally as part of The Ambassador Program 13 songwriters would each host a Songshop workshop in which their peers would collaboratively attempt to create a hit song with the first workshop taking place in Los Angeles in June 2017 188 In October 2017 Spotify launched Rise a program aimed at promoting emerging artists 189 190 In February 2020 Spotify announced it would be featuring new songwriter pages and written by playlists This was aimed at giving fans a behind the scenes look at the process of some of their favorite songwriters Initial pages added included Justin Trantor Meghan Trainor and Missy Elliott Spotify thereafter announced it was planning to add more of these pages and playlists to highlight songwriters 191 192 In January 2021 Spotify made a selection of audiobooks available on the platform as a test of developing a greater breadth of content for users 193 The addition of audiobooks to the service would create similar offerings to that of Amazon s Audible In 2020 Spotify partnered with Wizarding World to release a series of recorded readings of Harry Potter and the Philosopher s Stone by various stars of the franchise 194 In November 2023 Spotify expanded free access to 200 000 audiobooks for Spotify Premium subscribers 195 In April 2024 Spotify expanded access to the audiobooks from the US UK and Australia to include Canada Ireland and New Zealand The company also announced an expansion of its book catalogue to 250 000 books 196 Stations by Spotify On 31 January 2018 Spotify started testing a new Pandora styled standalone app called Stations by Spotify for Australian Android users 197 It featured 62 music channels each devoted to a particular genre Spotify itself has two channels named after its playlists that link directly to the users profile Release Radar and Discover Weekly The aim was to help users to listen to the music they want without information overload or spending time building their own playlists At launch the skipping feature was not featured to reinforce the feel of radio but it was quietly added later and with no limits Songs can be loved but cannot be hated If a song is loved a custom radio channel will be created based on it and when there are at least 15 of these songs a My Favourites channel is unlocked The standalone app was made available to all iOS and Android users in the United States since 4 June 2019 198 Spotify announced the app would be shut down on 16 May 2022 The company said users would be able to login into the main Spotify app with their Stations account and transfer their stations into Spotify 199 PlatformsSpotify nbsp Screenshot nbsp Screenshot of Spotify on Android January 2024 showcasing the app s Home tab Developer s Spotify ABInitial release7 October 2008 2008 10 07 Stable release s Android8 9 24 633 March 22 2024 59 days ago 2024 03 22 200 Wear OS8 9 24 633 March 22 2024 59 days ago 2024 03 22 iOS8 9 19 March 4 2024 2 months ago 2024 03 04 201 iPadOS8 9 19 March 4 2024 2 months ago 2024 03 04 Windows1 2 37 701 May 9 2024 11 days ago 2024 05 09 202 macOS1 2 33 1042 August 31 2023 8 months ago 2023 08 31 Linux1 2 31 1205 February 23 2024 2 months ago 2024 02 23 203 Preview release s Android8 6 96 December 30 2021 2 years ago 2021 12 30 204 iOS8 6 96 December 31 2021 2 years ago 2021 12 31 204 Written inPrimarily Python with some Java C and C components 205 Operating systemAndroid Android Auto Android TV ChromeOS Wear OS watchOS Fitbit OS iOS iPadOS CarPlay macOS tvOS Windows Windows Phone Linux PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Xbox One Xbox Series X SAvailable in74 languages 206 List of languagesEnglish Arabic Chinese Hebrew Hungarian Czech German Spanish International Spanish Finnish French Canadian French Greek Indonesian Italian Japanese Malay Dutch Polish Brazilian Portuguese Russian Swedish Thai Turkish Vietnamese Afrikaans Amharic Azerbaijani Basque Bengali Bhojpuri Bulgarian Bosnian Simplified Chinese Croatian Danish Estonian Filipino Galician Gujarati Hindi Icelandic Kannada Latvian Lithuanian Macedonian Malayalam Marathi Nepali Norwegian Odia Persian Portuguese Eastern Punjabi Western Punjabi Romanian Serbian Slovak Slovenian Swahili Tamil Telugu Ukrainian Urdu ZuluTypeMusic streaming podcast playerLicenseProprietaryWebsitewww wbr spotify wbr com nbsp Spotify has client software currently available for Windows macOS Wear OS Android iOS watchOS iPadOS PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Xbox One and Xbox Series X S game consoles There is an official although unsupported Linux version Spotify also offers a proprietary protocol known as Spotify Connect which lets users listen to music through a wide range of entertainment systems including speakers receivers TVs cars and smartwatches Spotify also has a web player open spotify com 207 Offline Music listening is possible on watchOS 208 and more recently added to Google s WearOS 209 for those with premium subscriptions Unlike the apps the web player does not have the ability to download music for offline listening In June 2017 Spotify became available as an app through Windows Store 210 211 Features nbsp Spotify Desktop Client running on WindowsIn Spotify s apps music can be browsed or searched for via various parameters such as artist album genre playlist or record label Users can create edit and share playlists share tracks on social media and make playlists with other users Spotify provides access to over 100 million songs 5 million podcasts and 4 billion playlists In June 2012 Soundrop became the first Spotify app to attract major funding receiving 3 million equivalent to 3 937 000 in 2023 from Spotify investor Northzone 212 213 8 In November 2011 Spotify introduced a Spotify Apps service that made it possible for third party developers to design applications that could be hosted within the Spotify computer software The applications provided features such as synchronised lyrics music reviews and song recommendations 214 215 216 However after the June 2014 announcement of a Web API that allowed third party developers to integrate Spotify content in their own web applications the company discontinued its Spotify Apps platform in October stating that its new development tools for the Spotify web player fulfilled many of the advantages of the former Spotify Apps service that allows users to access the service directly from their web browser without downloading the app But would ensure the Spotify platform remained relevant and easy to develop on as well as enabling you to build innovative and engaging music experiences 217 In April 2012 Spotify introduced a Spotify Play Button an embeddable music player that can be added to blogs websites or social media profiles that lets visitors listen to a specific song playlist or album without leaving the page 218 The following November the company began rolling out a web player with a similar design to its computer programs but without the requirement of any installation 207 In December 2012 Spotify introduced a Follow tab and a Discover tab 219 along with a Collection section 220 Follow lets users follow artists and friends to see what they are listening to while Discover directs users to new releases as well as music review and concert recommendations based on listening history Users can add tracks to a Collection section of the app rather than adding them to a specific playlist 221 222 The features were announced by CEO Daniel Ek at a press conference with Ek saying that a common user complaint about the service was that Spotify is great when you know what music you want to listen to but not when you don t 223 In May 2015 Spotify announced a new Home start page that could recommend music The company also introduced Spotify Running a feature aimed at improving music while running with music matched to running tempo and announced that podcasts and videos entertainment news and clips would be coming to Spotify along with Spotify Originals content 224 225 226 In December 2015 Spotify debuted Spotify Wrapped a program that creates playlists based on each user s most listened to songs from the year Users then can view and save this playlist at the end of the year 227 228 In January 2016 Spotify and music annotation service Genius formed a partnership bringing annotation information from Genius into infocards presented while songs are playing in Spotify The functionality is limited to selected playlists and was only available on Spotify s iOS app at launch 229 230 231 being expanded to the Android app in April 2017 This feature was known as Behind the Lyrics 232 233 As of 18 November 2021 update Behind the Lyrics has been replaced with auto generated real time lyrics due to consumer demand The feature is powered by lyrics provider Musixmatch 234 In May 2017 Spotify introduced Spotify Codes for its mobile apps a way for users to share specific artists tracks playlists or albums with other people Users find the relevant content to share and press a soundwave style barcode on the display A camera icon in the apps search fields lets other users point their device s camera at the code which takes them to the same content 235 236 237 In January 2019 Spotify introduced Car View for Android allowing devices running Android to have a compact Now Playing screen when the device is connected to a car s Bluetooth 238 239 Also in January 2019 Spotify beta tested its Canvas feature where artists or labels can upload looping 3 to 8 second moving visuals to their tracks replacing album covers in the Now Playing view users have the option to turn off this feature Canvas is only available for Spotify s iOS and Android mobile apps 240 Months later Spotify tested its own version of stories the sharing format popularized by social apps known as Storyline and the focus is on allowing artists to share their own insights inspiration details about their creative process or other meanings behind the music 241 In March 2021 Spotify announced an upcoming option for higher resolution sound Spotify Hi Fi 242 Playlists and discovery In July 2015 Spotify launched Discover Weekly a playlist generated weekly Updated on Mondays it provides users with music recommendations 243 244 In December 2015 Quartz reported that songs in Discover Weekly playlists had been streamed 1 7 billion times 245 In March 2016 Spotify launched six playlists branded as Fresh Finds including the main playlist and Fire Emoji Basement Hiptronix Six Strings and Cyclone hip hop electronic pop guitar driven and experimental music respectively The playlists spotlight songs by lesser known musicians and their songs 246 In August 2016 Spotify launched Release Radar a personalized playlist that allows users to stay up to date on new music released by the artists they listen to the most It also helps users discover new music by mixing in other artists music The playlist is updated every Friday and is a maximum of two hours in length 247 248 The RADAR program is Spotify s global artist program exclusively designed to help emerging artists worldwide reach the next stage in their careers and strengthen their connection to listeners citation needed Spotify provides artists taking part in RADAR with resources and access to integrated marketing opportunities to help them boost their careers in addition to expanded reach and exposure to 178 markets worldwide 249 In September 2016 Spotify introduced Daily Mix a series of up to six playlists that mixes the user s favorite tracks with new recommended songs New users can access Daily Mix after approximately two weeks of listening to music through Spotify Daily Mixes were only available on the Android and iOS mobile apps at launch but the feature was later expanded to Spotify s computer app in December 2016 citation needed In 2017 Spotify introduced RapCaviar a hip hop playlist 250 251 Rap Caviar had 10 9 million followers by 2019 becoming one of Spotify s Top 5 playlists 252 RapCaviar was originally curated by Tuma Basa 253 It was relaunched by Carl Chery in 2019 254 In July 2018 Spotify introduced a beta feature that gives artists labels and teams an easy way to submit unreleased music directly to Spotify s editorial team for playlist consideration citation needed In June 2019 Spotify launched a custom playlist titled Your Daily Drive that closely replicates the drive time format of many traditional radio stations It combines short form podcast news updates from The Wall Street Journal NPR and PRI with a mix of a user s favorite songs and artists interspersed with tracks the listener has yet to discover Your Daily Drive which is found in a user s library under the Made For You section updates throughout the day 255 In May 2020 Spotify introduced the Group Session feature This feature allows two or more Premium users in the same location to share control over the music that is being played 256 The Group Session feature was later expanded to allow any Premium user to join participate in a Group Session with a special link the host can send to participants 257 In July 2021 Spotify launched the What s New feed a section that collects all new releases and episodes from artists and podcasts that the user follows The feature is represented by a bell icon on the app s main page and is available on iOS and Android 258 In November 2021 Spotify launched the City and Local Pulse charts aimed at representing the songs listened to in major cities around the world The charts are available for 200 cities with the most listeners on Spotify 259 In 2023 Spotify launched additional features to help independent artists distributing their music on the platform reach a wider array of potential fans One such feature is a tool that Spotify rolled out in March 2023 called Discovery Mode Discovery Mode allows artists who meet certain criteria and have a Spotify For Artists account to submit qualifying songs for Spotify s in house promotion services Spotify helps place songs campaigned through Discovery Mode on listeners personal algorithmic playlists Discovery Mode does not require an upfront budget Instead a 30 commission is applied to recording royalties generated from all streams of selected songs in Discovery Mode contexts Spotify Radio and Autoplay All other streams of selected songs outside of Spotify Radio and Autoplay remain commission free 260 In September 2023 Spotify introduced its latest playlist update Daylist a new kind of playlist which adapts to the user s mood throughout the day 261 262 Listening limitations Spotify has experimented with different limitations to users listening on the Free service tier In April 2011 Spotify announced via a blog post that they would drastically cut the amount of music that free members could access effective 1 May 2011 The post stated that all free members would be limited to ten hours of music streaming per month and in addition individual tracks were limited to five plays New users were exempt from these changes for six months 263 In March 2013 the five play individual track limit was removed for users in the United Kingdom and media reports stated that users in the United States Australia and New Zealand never had the limit in the first place 264 265 In December 2013 CEO Daniel Ek announced that Android and iOS smartphone users with the free service tier could listen to music in Shuffle mode a feature in which users can stream music by specific artists and playlists without being able to pick which songs to hear Mobile listening previously was not allowed in Spotify Free accounts Ek stated that We re giving people the best free music experience in the history of the smartphone 266 267 This shuffle feature is not available on Android and iOS tablets or computers In January 2014 Spotify removed all time limits for Free users on all platforms including on computers which previously had a 10 hour monthly listening limit after a 6 month grace period 268 269 In April 2018 Spotify began to allow Free users to listen on demand to whatever songs they want for an unlimited number of times as long as the song is on one of the user s 15 personalized discovery playlists 270 Before May 2020 all service users were limited to 10 000 songs in their library after which they would receive an Epic collection friend notification and would not be able to save more music to their library 271 Spotify later removed this limit 271 Technical information Audio quality options Desktop mobile and tablet Web player Music Standard quality options HE AAC v2 24 kbit s AAC 128 kbit s Vorbis 96 kbit s Vorbis 160 kbit s Premium quality options Vorbis 320 kbit s AAC 256 kbit s Podcasts HE AAC v2 24 kbit s AAC 128 kbit s Vorbis 96 kbit s Spotify is proprietary and uses digital rights management DRM controls 272 Spotify s terms and conditions do not permit users to reverse engineer the application Spotify allows users to add local audio files for music not in its catalog into the user s library through Spotify s desktop application and then allows users to synchronize those music files to Spotify s mobile apps or other computers over the same Wi Fi network as the primary computer by creating a Spotify playlist and adding those local audio files to the playlist Audio files must either be in the mp3 mp4 mp4 files that have video streams are not supported or m4p media formats This feature is available only for Premium subscribers Spotify has a median playback latency of 265 ms including local cache 273 In April 2014 Spotify moved away from the peer to peer P2P system they had used to distribute music to users Previously a desktop user would listen to music from one of three sources a cached file on the computer one of Spotify s servers or from other subscribers through the P2P system P2P a well established Internet distribution system served as an alternative that reduced Spotify s server resources and costs However Spotify ended the P2P setup in 2014 with Spotify s Alison Bonny telling TorrentFreak We re gradually phasing out the use of our desktop P2P technology which has helped our users enjoy their music both speedily and seamlessly We re now at a stage where we can power music delivery through our growing number of servers and ensure our users continue to receive a best in class service 274 Originally Spotify had their own servers but in 2016 most of their infrastructure was migrated to Google Cloud 275 Car Thing Spotify first announced a voice activated music streaming gadget for cars in May 2019 Named the Car Thing it represents the music streaming service s first entry into hardware devices 276 In early 2020 as part of filings to the Federal Communications Commission FCC submitted images of the device that make it seem much more like a miniature infotainment screen 277 In April 2021 Spotify rolled out its own voice assistant with the hands free wake word Hey Spotify 278 Using this users can perform various actions such as pulling playlists launching radio stations playing or pausing songs This voice based virtual assistant may be intended more towards Spotify s own hardware such as its Car Thing 279 Geographic availabilityThe company is incorporated in Luxembourg as Spotify Technology S A 280 and headquartered in Stockholm Sweden with offices in 16 countries around the world 281 282 283 Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine it temporarily closed its office in Russia 284 and indefinitely suspended all of its services in the country 285 In 2023 it announced that it would leave Uruguay due to a copyright law 286 However it reversed its decision a few weeks later 287 nbsp Countries where Spotify is available History of expansion Date Countries regions Reference s 7 October 2008 nbsp Sweden nbsp Finland nbsp France nbsp Norway nbsp Spain 288 10 February 2009 nbsp United Kingdom 289 290 18 May 2010 nbsp Netherlands 291 14 July 2011 nbsp United States 292 12 October 2011 nbsp Denmark 293 294 15 November 2011 nbsp Austria 295 16 November 2011 nbsp Belgium nbsp Switzerland 296 13 March 2012 nbsp Germany 297 22 May 2012 nbsp Australia nbsp New Zealand 298 299 13 November 2012 nbsp Andorra nbsp Ireland nbsp Liechtenstein nbsp Luxembourg nbsp Monaco 300 301 302 12 February 2013 nbsp Italy nbsp Poland nbsp Portugal 303 16 April 2013 nbsp Estonia nbsp Hong Kong nbsp Iceland nbsp Latvia nbsp Lithuania nbsp Malaysia nbsp Mexico nbsp Singapore 304 24 September 2013 nbsp Argentina nbsp Greece nbsp Taiwan nbsp Turkey 305 12 December 2013 nbsp Bolivia nbsp Bulgaria nbsp Chile nbsp Colombia nbsp Costa Rica nbsp Cyprus nbsp Czech Republic nbsp Dominican Republic nbsp Ecuador nbsp El Salvador nbsp Guatemala nbsp Honduras nbsp Hungary nbsp Malta nbsp Nicaragua nbsp Panama nbsp Paraguay nbsp Peru nbsp Slovakia nbsp Uruguay 306 8 April 2014 nbsp Philippines 307 28 May 2014 nbsp Brazil 308 30 September 2014 nbsp Canada 309 30 March 2016 nbsp Indonesia 310 29 September 2016 nbsp Japan 311 312 22 August 2017 nbsp Thailand 313 314 13 March 2018 nbsp Israel nbsp Romania nbsp South Africa nbsp Vietnam 315 316 317 318 13 November 2018 nbsp Algeria nbsp Bahrain nbsp Egypt nbsp Jordan nbsp Kuwait nbsp Lebanon nbsp Morocco nbsp Oman nbsp Palestine nbsp Qatar nbsp Saudi Arabia nbsp Tunisia nbsp United Arab Emirates 319 320 26 February 2019 nbsp India 321 14 July 2020 nbsp Albania nbsp Belarus nbsp Bosnia and Herzegovina nbsp Croatia nbsp Kazakhstan nbsp Kosovo nbsp Moldova nbsp Montenegro nbsp North Macedonia nbsp Russia Suspended on 25 March 2022 until further notice nbsp Serbia nbsp Slovenia nbsp Ukraine 322 1 February 2021 nbsp South Korea 323 23 February 2021 nbsp Bangladesh nbsp Ghana nbsp Kenya nbsp Nigeria nbsp Pakistan nbsp Sri Lanka nbsp Tanzania nbsp Uganda 324 325 24 February 2021 nbsp Antigua and Barbuda nbsp Armenia nbsp Bahamas nbsp Barbados nbsp Belize nbsp Bermuda nbsp Bhutan nbsp Botswana nbsp Burkina Faso nbsp Cabo Verde nbsp Curacao nbsp Dominica nbsp East Timor nbsp Fiji nbsp Gambia nbsp Georgia nbsp Grenada nbsp Guinea Bissau nbsp Guyana nbsp Haiti nbsp Jamaica nbsp Kiribati nbsp Lesotho nbsp Liberia nbsp Malawi nbsp Maldives nbsp Mali nbsp Marshall Islands nbsp Micronesia nbsp Namibia nbsp Nauru nbsp Niger nbsp Palau nbsp Papua New Guinea nbsp Samoa nbsp San Marino nbsp Sao Tome and Principe nbsp Senegal nbsp Seychelles nbsp Sierra Leone nbsp Solomon Islands nbsp St Kitts and Nevis nbsp St Lucia nbsp St Vincent and the Grenadines nbsp Suriname nbsp Tonga nbsp Trinidad and Tobago nbsp Tuvalu nbsp Vanuatu 325 25 February 2021 nbsp Azerbaijan nbsp Brunei nbsp Burundi nbsp Cambodia nbsp Cameroon nbsp Chad nbsp Comoros nbsp Equatorial Guinea nbsp Eswatini nbsp Gabon nbsp Guinea nbsp Kyrgyzstan nbsp Laos nbsp Macau nbsp Mauritania nbsp Mongolia nbsp Nepal nbsp Rwanda nbsp Togo nbsp Uzbekistan nbsp Zimbabwe 325 16 March 2021 nbsp Angola nbsp Benin nbsp Djibouti nbsp Ivory Coast nbsp Madagascar nbsp Mauritius nbsp Mozambique nbsp Zambia 325 29 September 2021 nbsp Anguilla nbsp Aruba nbsp Bonaire nbsp British Virgin Islands nbsp Cayman Islands nbsp French Guiana nbsp Guadeloupe nbsp Martinique nbsp Montserrat nbsp Saba nbsp Saint Barthelemy nbsp Saint Martin nbsp Sint Eustatius nbsp Sint Maarten nbsp Turks and Caicos Islands 326 16 November 2021 nbsp Democratic Republic of the Congo nbsp Iraq nbsp Libya nbsp Republic of the Congo nbsp Tajikistan nbsp Venezuela 327 22 December 2022 nbsp Ethiopia 328 Sponsorship nbsp Barcelona 329 nbsp Barcelona FemeniAccoladesIn September 2010 the World Economic Forum WEF selected Spotify as a Technology Pioneer for 2011 330 331 CriticismMain article Criticism of Spotify Spotify has attracted significant criticism since its 2006 launch 332 The primary point of criticism centres around what artists music creators and the media have described as unsustainable compensation 333 Unlike physical sales or legal downloads both of which were the main medium of listening to music at the time which pay artists a fixed amount per song or album sold Spotify pays royalties based on their market share the number of streams for their songs as a proportion of total songs streamed on the service Spotify distributes approximately 70 of its total revenue to rights holders who will then pay artists based on their individual agreements 146 Worldwide 30 000 musicians have joined the organization UnionOfMusicians UMAW 334 UMAW organized protests in 31 cities in March 2021 and its campaign JusticeAtSpotify is demanding more transparency and a compensation of one cent per stream 334 Spotify has been criticised by artists and producers including Taylor Swift and Thom Yorke who have argued that Spotify does not fairly compensate musicians and both withdrew their music from the service 335 336 Their catalogues returned to the service in 2017 337 338 While the streaming music industry in general faces the same critique about inadequate payments 339 Spotify being the leading service 340 faces particular scrutiny due to its free service tier allowing users to listen to music for free though with advertisements between tracks The free service tier has led to a variety of major album releases being delayed or withdrawn from the service 341 342 343 In response to the allegations about unfair compensation Spotify claims that it is benefitting the industry by migrating users away from unauthorized copying and less monetized platforms to its free service tier and then downgrades that service until they upgrade to paid accounts 146 A study has shown that record labels keep a high amount of the money earned from Spotify 344 345 and the CEO of Merlin Network a representative body for over 10 000 independent labels has also observed significant yearly growth rates in earnings from Spotify while clarifying that Spotify pays labels not artists 346 In 2017 as part of its efforts to renegotiate licence deals for an interest in going public Spotify announced that artists would be able to make albums temporarily exclusive to paid subscribers if the albums are part of Universal Music Group or the Merlin Network In 2016 Spotify was criticized for allegedly making certain artists music harder to find than others as these artists would release their music to the rival streaming service Apple Music before releasing it to Spotify 347 In May 2018 Spotify attracted criticism for its Hate Content amp Hateful Conduct policy that removed the music of R Kelly and XXXTentacion from its editorial and algorithmic playlists because When we look at promotion we look at issues around hateful conduct where you have an artist or another creator who has done something off platform that is so particularly out of line with our values egregious in a way that it becomes something that we don t want to associate ourselves with R Kelly has faced accusations of sexual abuse while XXXTentacion was on trial for domestic abuse in a case that did not reach a judgement before his death that June 348 This policy was revoked in June because the company deemed the original wording to be too vague they stated that Across all genres our role is not to regulate artists Therefore we are moving away from implementing a policy around artist conduct 349 However artists such as Gary Glitter and Lostprophets are still hidden from Spotify s radio stations 350 According to some computer science and music experts various music communities are often ignored or overlooked by music streaming services such as Spotify 351 352 353 The most commonly perceived error is said to be caused by a lack of diverse scope within curation staff including overlooking mainstay artists in large genres potentially causing a categorical homogenization of musical styles even impacting mainline artists like within hip hop with A Tribe Called Quest 352 In March 2021 David Dayen argued in The American Prospect that musicians were in peril due to monopolies in streaming services like Spotify 354 Daniel Ek co founder and CEO of Spotify discussed what he called an artist friendly streaming solution He explained An extension of the internet radio craze of the early 2000s Spotify would license content from record labels and then support artists as people listened to their music 354 In January 2022 270 scientists physicians professors doctors and healthcare workers wrote an open letter to Spotify expressing concern over false and societally harmful assertions on Joe Rogan s podcast The Joe Rogan Experience and asked Spotify to establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform The 270 signatories objected to Rogan broadcasting COVID 19 misinformation citing a highly controversial episode featuring guest Robert Malone 1757 355 356 On 26 January Neil Young removed his music from Spotify after they refused to remove the podcast 357 Other artists and podcasters such as Joni Mitchell Nils Lofgren Brene Brown and Crosby Stills amp Nash also announced a boycott of Spotify 358 359 360 361 Spotify promised to add content advisories for anything containing discussions related to COVID 19 and posted additional rules 362 See alsoComparison of music streaming services List of Spotify streaming records List of most streamed artists on Spotify List of podcast clients Tech companies in the New York metropolitan areaReferences a b c d e f 20 F 20 F Archived from the original on 6 February 2021 Retrieved 13 March 2021 a b About us Spotify Archived from the original on 7 October 2021 Retrieved 29 June 2021 a b c d e f Form 20 F US Securities and 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