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SPOTIFY

Skype-founders launch Spotify rival in Sweden

Swedish online music company Spotify will now see further competition on the home front after Rdio, a similar music streaming service, was launched in Sweden and Finland on Wednesday.

Published: 4 July 2012 15:08 CEST
Skype-founders launch Spotify rival in Sweden

Rdio, a company created by Skype founders Niklas Zennström from Sweden and Janus Friis from Denmark, opened its virtual doors Wednesday after having been launched already in 11 countries.

While not having released an official statement, Rdio has updated their availability page on their official website to include Sweden and Finland, and one staff member tweeted: “Say hello to Rdio Sweden and Finland.”

The service is already available for music lovers in the US, UK, Canada, Brazil, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Spain and Portugal, and offers listeners the chance to enjoy “millions of songs with no ads”.

Rdio was founded in August, 2010 by the two Skype entrepreneurs, who were also behind peer-to-peer file sharing giant Kazaa which was launched in November 2006.

Zennström’s own investment company Atomico has invested in the company, which has spread throughout Europe most recently after opening to a welcoming market in the US.

Spotify, also launched in 2006, is Sweden’s premier music downloading platform and now operates in 16 countries.

TT/The Local/og

twitter.com/thelocalsweden

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BUSINESS

Spotify reports strong growth in users as it announces price rise

Spotify on Tuesday reported a bigger-than-expected rise in active users at the end of the second quarter, a day after the music streaming giant announced price increases for its premium service.

Published: 25 July 2023 14:30 CEST
Spotify reports strong growth in users as it announces price rise

The Swedish company, which is listed on the New York stock exchange, said it’s total active users rose 27 percent to 551 million year-on-year, or 21 million more than it expected. The number of paying subscribers also rose, with a 17 percent jump to 220 million — three million more than expected.

On Monday, the company announced it was raising its prices for premium subscribers “across a number of markets around the world,” following in the footsteps of similar moves by competing music services from Apple and Amazon.

Despite the boost in users, Spotify reported a bigger operating loss of 247 million euros ($273 million) in the second quarter, compared to a loss of 194 million euros for the same period a year earlier.

The company said it was “primarily impacted by charges related to our actions to streamline operations and reduce costs.”

In early June, Spotify announced it would be cutting some 200 positions working with podcasts.

That move came after a January announcement that Spotify was cutting around 600 jobs — equalling about six percent of its workforce — following similar moves by other tech industry giants.

Spotify has invested heavily since its launch to fuel growth with expansions into new markets and, in later years, exclusive content such as
podcasts. It has invested over a billion dollars into podcasts alone.

In 2017, the company had around 3,000 staff members, more than tripling the figure to around 9,800 at the end on 2022.

The company has never posted a full-year net profit and only occasionally quarterly profits despite its success in the online music market.

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