Spotify Technology SA’s lighter-than-expected number of new paid subscribers drove shares as much as 5% lower in trading before the bell, overshadowing revenue, gross margins and user engagement successes in the second quarter.
[The company] said premium subscribers rose 30% from a year earlier to 108 million, but missed analysts’ expectation of 108.5 million… “The issue is that they missed on paid subs, which is probably the most important number for the company,” said analyst James Cordwell of Atlantic Equities.
[Spotify] faces competition from Apple Inc, which trails Spotify with more than 60 million subscribers as of June.
MacDailyNews Note: Spotify launched over 13 years ago on April 23, 2006.
Apple Music launched just four years ago on June 30, 2015.
Revenue rose to 1.67 billion euros for the three months ended June 30 from 1.27 billion euros a year earlier… Net loss attributable to the company narrowed to 76 million euros, or 0.42 euros per share from 394 million euros, or 2.20 euros per share, a year earlier.
MacDailyNews Take: Spotify is really good at one thing: Losing money.
Spotify offers 40% fewer tracks than Apple Music for the same price. Apple Music boasts a catalog of 50 million songs; Spotify has just 30 million. Don’t overpay for less! If you’re still subscribing to Spotify, it’s past time for you to cancel it and upgrade to Apple Music. (See also: How to move your Spotify playlists to Apple Music.)