Spotify Newsletter #169

Your Weekly Dose of Spotify News

Jul 07, 2023

Hello! Thanks for tuning in for the latest issue of the Spotify Newsletter.

I hope everyone is having a delightful summer.

Summer fun doesn’t mean any slowdown for Spotify news. Some accounting info rolled out this week: Spotify users who’ve subscribed to its Premium service through Apple’s in-app purchase system will no longer be supporting it as a payment method.

Due to Apple taking 30 percent of in-app purchases, Spotify users who were subscribed through in-app purchases were being charged an extra $3 per month compared to subscribing through Spotify directly.

So there’s that.

Spotify is fully ending support for Apple's in-app billing service. Users who signed up through that avenue will be bumped to ad-based basic.

Have a great day / great weekend!

★In the SPOTlight★

⭐️ Spotify’s Mikaela Lancaster Talks ‘Significant Impact of Streaming to the Music Economy’

The borderless streaming business provided a glimmer of joy for Australia’s music community in 2022, a time when travel was spotty and full-scale international touring was more hopeful than a reality.
That’s one of the takeaways from Spotify’s Loud & Clear report.

⭐️ Alex Cooper’s ‘Call Her Daddy’ Podcast Brings Big Bump in Streams for Anitta, John Mayer, More

At a time when more than 120,000 songs are being uploaded to streaming services every day and artists are continually seeking ways to stand out, Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast, exclusively available on Spotify, has brought a big boost in streams — at least on Spotify, which happens to be the world’s biggest paid streaming service.

⭐️ Spotify is removing App Store payment option for legacy subscribers

Existing Spotify subscribers who have been paying for the service through Apple’s App Store can no longer pay using this payment method. The users paying through that mechanism will be moved to a free account at the end of their current billing cycle. They will then have to purchase a paid plan through the website.

⭐️ Spotify had 44.4m US subscribers in February, Apple Music had 32.6m, according to new data

We know that at the close of Q1 2023 (the three months to end of March), Spotify had a total global paying subs audience of 210 million.
That number was revealed as part of the company’s Q1 earnings results, in which SPOT told investors that added 5 million net Premium subscribers during the quarter.