Spotify monthly active users surpass 500 million mark and artists earning more than $1 million doubled in 5 years
Spotify said on Wednesday it will roll out new features like smart shuffle, podcast previews and music playlists on its audio streaming platform, as it surpasses 500 million monthly active listeners.
The Swedish company, which has invested heavily in building its podcast and audiobook business in recent years in an effort to entice users and advertisers, announced a “new reimagined user interface” at its Stream On event.
Spotify has also shared an update on its annual music revenue report, noting that the number of artists making more than $1 million (roughly Rs. 8 crores) as well as those generating more than $10,000 (roughly Rs. 818,500) has doubled in the past five years.
Earlier this year, Spotify said it would tighten spending and work to become more efficient given the difficult macroeconomic backdrop and predicted that it would reach 500 million listeners in the current quarter.
Spotify said features such as podcast autoplay, personalized visual and audio previews for podcast episodes, audiobooks or music playlists, and new discovery feeds will be rolling out in waves starting Wednesday.
Back in January, Spotify said it would cut 6 percent of its workforce and charge related fees of nearly $50 million (roughly Rs. 408 crores), adding to massive layoffs in the tech sector in preparation for a possible recession.
The tech industry is facing declining demand after two years of pandemic-driven growth during which it employed aggressively. This has led companies from Meta to Microsoft to shed thousands of jobs.
“Over the past few months, we’ve gone to great lengths to rein in costs, but it simply wasn’t enough,” CEO Daniel Elk said in a blog post announcing the nearly 600 job cuts.
© Thomson Reuters 2023