Spotify completes licensing deals with two majors as paid subscriber base grows to 108 million

Spotify bagged another eight million paid subscribers in the second quarter, down slightly on forecasts, bringing the magic number to 108 million.

The streaming music giant boasted 232 million monthly active users at the end of June, up from 100 million subscribers and 217 million users in the quarter ending in March.

That’s a year-on-year  31 percent gain in the “paid subscribers” column. But the company’s missed target stings, and its shareprice was down by as much as 5% during early trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

“We missed on subs. That’s on us,” reads a corporate letter to shareholders. “The good news is that the shortfall was execution related, rather than softness in the business, and we expect to make up the lost ground before year-end.”

Spotify on Wall Street

Also in it second-quarter earnings report, Spotify revealed it had renewed licensing agreements with two of the four major label partners and that it’s in “active discussions” with the other two.

Music Business Worldwide speculated that Sony Music and Merlin, the independents digital rights agency, are the two labels which have struck global agreements. According to Variety, talks with Warner Music are ongoing, which would leave Universal Music Group, the global market leader, as the other major content supplier yet to sign up.

“This is the sixth round of label negotiations we’ve worked through in our thirteen year history and, while it is typically a long drawn-out process, it has become part of the normal cadence of the business,” the company noted in its update.

Still, Spotify’s beancounters will be pleased its platform continues to attract more than two-million-plus paying users each month, and it maintains a huge lead over its rival Apple Music, which reported 60 million paying subscribers as of June this year.

Spotify also got a lift from its Indian service which came online in late February, and has reportedly attracted more than two million users.

The company, led by CEO Daniel Ek, posted total revenue during the period of €1.67 billion, up 31% year on year, and operating losses in the quarter amounted to €3 million, well down from €90 million.