Spotify Now Has 75M Paid Subscribers, Apple Music Has 40M

Spotify this afternoon reported its first quarterly earnings since its February IPO filing, and in the report, the company revealed that it now has 75 million paid subscribers.

The 75 million number is up from the 71 million paying subscribers that Spotify reported at the end of February, and it's almost double the number of subscribers who pay for Apple Music.

Apple in April said that it had 40 million paid subscribers across 115 countries and an additional eight million people using the service through the free three-month trial.

Though it has 75 million paid subscribers, Spotify's total subscriber base is much larger at 170 million subscribers due to the free tier that it offers.

While Spotify has more paying subscribers than Apple Music, the latter service has been gaining new subscribers at a quicker rate. A recent report from The Wall Street Journal suggested Apple Music is on track to overtake Spotify in U.S. subscribers as soon as this summer because its five percent growth rate per month outpaces Spotify's two percent growth rate.

Spotify last month beefed up its free tier with on-demand playlists, song recommendations, and a new low-data mode with the hopes that a more robust free tier will convert more listeners into paid subscribers.

Spotify stock is down following its earnings release as its $1.36 billion in revenue fell short of the $1.4 billion in revenue estimated by Wall Street.