Spotify has had a goal to reach up to one billion monthly users before 2030. With an unexpectedly large increase in the number of users at the end of the fourth quarter – driven by yet another successful "Wrapped" campaign and good growth in growth countries – the road there now looks shorter.
If you had asked at the beginning of last year, all assessors would have said it would take a long time. But looking at how the end of the year developed – 675 million users, over ten million above our forecast – it looks pretty good. The goal remains. It's before 2030 and I feel confident about that, says Daniel Ek to TT.
No backlash
He has not noted any user backlash due to Spotify's donation of 1.7 million kronor to Donald Trump's inauguration fund.
When we look at the result, it looks good and our forecast for the first quarter also looks good.
We are present on 184 markets around the world and we are actively working in all these markets. In some markets, we are incredibly large. In some, we are clearly smaller. But we are working in the UK, in France, in Canada, in the USA, in India, in Turkey – in many different countries. And we do such campaigns.
No big deal in the USA
The decision on local investments is made by local Spotify managers, according to Ek. Moreover, he reminds that – even if almost no other large Swedish companies donated money to Trump's inauguration fund – almost all major tech companies in the USA contributed financially.
And the question is not particularly noticed outside of Sweden, according to Ek:
It's a bit funny that a local American phenomenon is noticed in Sweden, while in the USA it wasn't a big deal at all.
But when it comes to politics and when it comes to music, everyone has opinions. We are in the middle of it.
