Spotify Expects to Hit 450 Million Listeners by October

    
    Sarah Tew/CNET
    

    Spotify?expects its active listener base to hit 450 million by October, the music streaming service said in its second-quarter earnings report Wednesday, after finishing the period with 188 million subscribers and 433 million active listeners who visit the service at least once a month.?
    Even as Spotify girds for the possibility of economic slowdown, “it’s hard to be anything but optimistic given what I’m currently seeing,” CEO Daniel Ek said during an earnings call to discuss results.?
    The latest figures reiterate?Spotify’s dominance in subscription music around the world. Its chief competitor, No. 2 service?Apple Music, doesn’t routinely disclose its paid membership and hasn’t offered an update in more than three years, obscuring just how big Spotify’s lead may be. Back in June 2019, Apple said its service had?60 million subscribers. (According to music industry researcher MIDiA,?Apple holds about 15% of the world’s subscription music market; Spotify’s share is more than double that.)
    Looking ahead, Spotify predicted it will reach 194 million paid subscribers by the end of the third quarter.
    Sweden-based Spotify reported a loss of 125 million euros ($127 million), or 85 cents a share, widening from a loss of 20 million euros, or 19 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue climbed 23% percent to 2.864 billion euros in the quarter. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv estimated a 63 cent loss on 2.813 billion euros in revenue.?
    Spotify stock?was up 7.7% at $112 a share in recent premarket trading.?