Spotify now has 2 million paying subscribers in eight countries (the US and seven markets in Western Europe). The number, revealed during a CNBC interview with CEO Daniel Ek, according to a company spokesperson, implies Spotify has gained about 400,000 subscribers since it launched in the US in mid-July.
But it’s unlikely all 400,000 recent subscribers come from the US. After all, Spotify was adding subscribers at a good clip in the months leading up to the US launch. On March 8, Spotify announced it had reached one million subscribers in the seven European markets in which it operates (UK, Spain, France, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Finland). By the time Spotify arrived in the US on July 14, the company claimed it had 1.6 million subscribers – a gain of 600,000 subscribers in roughly four months.
The US launch has undoubtedly led to a healthy increase in subscribers, however. An August 8 report at AllThingsD pegged Spotify’s US user base at 175,000 paying subscribers and 1.4 million users. And now one industry executive tells Billboard.biz that Spotify has about 1 million active users in a given week.
Spotify has several technology partners in Europe to help it gain subscribers. For example, in early September the company announced a partnership with Virgin Media in the UK to offer Spotify to the company’s broadband and mobile customers. It also has a partnership with Telia, the Swedish mobile carrier and ISP.
In contrast, the service’s US adoption has been driven mainly by media coverage and word of mouth. It did, however, have a number of name-brand launch partners, such as Ford and Coca-Cola, that helped spread invitations for the service’s free tier.