Blog: Spotify

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

What will audiobook market growth look like?

Laura Fisher

24 Apr 2025

Spotify

Audio

Discovery

Key takeaways from this blog: Audiobooks are evolving into something far more than just a listening experience With its integration into the wellness sphere and innovations in immersive audio, the medium is carving out new paths MIDiA examines the evolution of audiobooks and the possibilities ahead ...

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IMS Business Report 2025

Mark Mulligan

23 Apr 2025

Spotify

YouTube

Facebook

Today I presented the 11th edition of the IMS Business Report at the ever-brilliant annual electronic music industry conference in Ibiza. And who doesn’t like a conference in Ibiza?! The full report is available via the IMS website.

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The medium is no longer the message – the messenger is now, too

Rutger Rosenborg

4 Apr 2025

Podcasts

Audio

Spotify

Key takeaways from this blog: Podcasts now rival traditional media in influence, especially around current events, thanks to their strong personalities, flexibility, and direct audience engagement The success of top podcasts is driven by hosts, not media networks — charisma, connection, and commen...

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Is streaming music's final form? And if not, what's next?

Tatiana Cirisano

3 Apr 2025

Business Strategy

Spotify

Streaming

Key takeaways from this blog: Music is not stuck – it is shifting. Fans now engage through remixes, memes, and behind-the-scenes content, not just through streaming Streaming is losing cultural ground.

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Music subscriber market shares 2024: Slowdown? What slowdown?

Mark Mulligan

27 Mar 2025

Business Strategy

Spotify

YouTube

Record label streaming revenue growth slowed to 6% in 2024 but there was no such slowdown in subscriber growth. In our just published ‘ Music subscriber market shares Q4 2024 ’ report, we reveal that the 85 million net* new subscribers added in 2024 was only two million less than in 2023, result...

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With “short-form audiobooks”, Spotify has become an independent book publisher

Rutger Rosenborg

19 Mar 2025

Product Strategy

Spotify

Audio

On the heels of Spotify’s embrace of AI-generated audiobooks through their partnership with ElevenLabs, the streaming giant is looking to further democratise and monetise audiobooks. On March 13, Spotify’s For the Record blog announced a new publishing program aimed at independent authors publis...

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A model for a new music streaming industry

Mark Mulligan

18 Mar 2025

Business Strategy

Spotify

YouTube

The music industry is approaching a pivot point. On the one hand, things look positive: we have UMG’s Streaming 2.0 , artist centric licensing, the impending launch of supremium and expanded rights revenue hitting $4.

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Podcasting has finally become profitable, but question marks remain

Rutger Rosenborg

5 Mar 2025

Product Strategy

Spotify

YouTube

Throughout 2023 and into 2024, you might have thought the sky was falling for podcasting. Layoffs and show cancellations had many in the industry wondering if there would be any financial future for the format.

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Social came for music streaming’s lunch – now is the time for streaming to bite back

Tatiana Cirisano

27 Feb 2025

Audience Insight

Spotify

Facebook

In the battle of music streaming versus social, the major (at least Western) music streaming services have never fully committed to implementing social features. Spotify has come the closest: an early version offered direct messaging, and the company even acquired a handful of social media-related s...

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Spotify’s embrace of AI-generated audio is a blessing and curse for authors

Rutger Rosenborg

26 Feb 2025

Product Strategy

Spotify

Audio

As we covered in August 2024, the future of AI-generated audiobooks is here. Up until this month, however, streaming platforms themselves had yet to fully embrace AI audiobook narration. Now, Spotify has announced their support for ElevenLabs ’ AI-generated audiobook content, paving the way for en...

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How streaming platforms are adapting in the race for affordable content

Rutger Rosenborg

19 Feb 2025

Business Strategy

Spotify

YouTube

Music is expensive – not for consumers, but for companies who have to license music copyrights from rightsholders. It is a large reason Spotify did not have a full year of profitability until 2024 . What helped the company get there? Podcasting.

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The audio listener is too valuable for the music industry to ignore

Rutger Rosenborg

13 Feb 2025

Fandom

Spotify

On the heels of positive Q4 2024 financials for Spotify , the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) has not lost a step in holding the company accountable for what it sees as unauthorised music usage.

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Why Spotify only hit profitability now (but will do so again)

Mark Mulligan

13 Feb 2025

Business Strategy

Spotify

Streaming

Spotify finally registered its first profitable year in 2024. It has hit net profit in individual quarters before – most recently in Q3 2023 – but this is the first year it was profitable throughout the year.

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Bringing fandom to life: the rise of IRL superfan experiences

Olivia Jones

12 Feb 2025

Fandom

Spotify

Streaming

Much of the recent discussion around music superfan monetisation has focused on online superfans, especially as more superstars join fan platforms like Weverse. These monetisation strategies capitalise on fans’ growing desire for artist-fan interaction but often rely on artists’ active participa...

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Bootlegging is the scourge of many industries. Could it be music’s greatest strength?

Tatiana Cirisano

7 Feb 2025

Fandom

Spotify

YouTube

The word “bootleg” has long left a bad taste in brands’ mouths. Quite literally defined as “illicit goods,” these unauthorised versions or replications of clothes, handbags, concert tees, and other items have long plagued brands.

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The unflattening of music

Mark Mulligan

30 Jan 2025

Cultural trends

Spotify

TikTok

[This post builds on two other recent MIDiA posts: Background music and What got you here ] At the half way point of the decade it is a good time to reflect on how the business of music is reshaping the culture of music – and where this is heading.

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The podcast attention game: How algorithmic discovery may remake podcasting

Rutger Rosenborg

29 Jan 2025

Audience Insight

Spotify

YouTube

Open the YouTube app on your TV and the first category you will see below “Home” is “Podcasts”. According to the YouTube blog , viewers watched more than 400 million hours of podcasts every month in 2024, just on living room devices alone.

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Background music is a short-term win for DSPs – but it could be a long-term problem

Olivia Jones

23 Jan 2025

Business Strategy

Spotify

Streaming

Note: Following the publication of this piece, Spotify released a statement regarding Pelly's article, which is reproduced in full at the bottom of this page. In this month’s issue of Harper’s Magazine , Liz Pelly published “ The Ghosts in the Machine ”.

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What got you here won’t get you there: how Spotify built a new business

Mark Mulligan

17 Jan 2025

Business Strategy

Spotify

Streaming

Since its inception, Spotify has been, and continues to be, the streaming music market’s lightning rod. This is due to its continued ability to maintain leading market share and the fact it is the only leading global DSP that is independent and therefore has to focus place more focus on commercial...

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Audiobooks enter their entertainment era

Rutger Rosenborg

8 Jan 2025

Spotify

Audiobooks

Audible

It is easy to forget that the audiobook is not a new format. Novels, stories, and poems – much of what the modern world knows best through the written word – all have their origins in the oral traditions of the ancient world.

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