Spotify turns up volume with rising revenues

Music streaming company's earnings from premium subscribers, almost 90% of overall revenue, rose to €1.5 billion

Spotify reported a 22 per cent rise in is first quarter revenue to 1.84 billion euros. Reuters

Spotify Technology on Wednesday reported better than expected second-quarter revenue as the music streaming company added more paid subscribers to its premium service.

Spotify said it now has 108 million premium subscribers, up 30 per cent from a year earlier. Revenue from premium subscribers, which account for nearly 90 per cent of its overall revenue, rose to €1.5 billion (Dh6.14bn) in the quarter.

Since launching its service more than a decade ago, Spotify has overcome resistance from big record labels and some major music artists to transform how people listen to music. However, it still faces intense competition from Apple and others.

Revenue rose to €1.67bn for the three months ended June 30 from €1.27bn a year earlier, beating analysts' estimates of €1.64bn, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Net loss attributable narrowed to €76 million, or 0.42 per share, compared with €394m, or 2.20  per share, a year earlier.

Last month, Spotify said it will devote a prominent spot in its music streaming app to Walt Disney's extensive music library with songs like Let It Go and A Whole New World.

The Disney Hub, as the companies are calling the new feature, places soundtracks from Disney's animated films, Marvel movies, Star Wars and other Disney properties in one place. Disney's catalogue already has a strong presence on Spotify with fans spending more than 2 billion combined minutes so far in 2019 streaming soundtracks, musicals and more.

Disney's most streamed song on Spotify is Let It Go from the Frozen soundtrack, followed by Moana's How Far I'll Go and You're Welcome.