Spotify is a music streaming service available on web and mobile devices that allows users to access over 30 million songs. The document discusses what problem Spotify solves for consumers such as integration with existing music libraries, large music selection, social sharing features, and helping to curb music piracy. It also provides a company snapshot, noting Spotify has over 75 million monthly active users, 20 million paid subscribers, and $1.1 billion in revenue in 2014. Challenges discussed include high licensing costs and over-reliance on subscription fees for revenue.

1. Music for everyone
Prepared by Sarah Miller on 7/16/2015

2. Outline
• What is Spotify and why is it a favorite service/app?
• What problem does Spotify solve for the consumer?
• Demographics
• Company Snapshot: Quick Facts & Revenue
• Challenges
• Desired Features
• Additional Thoughts
• Conclusion
• Appendix
1

3. What is Spotify?
Spotify is a music streaming service available on web and mobile
devices. Music lovers can find their favorite artists and songs, discover
new artists, make playlists, and share them with friends. Music can be
enjoyed for free with paid advertisements; a monthly subscription
without ads is available. Spotify’s direct competitors include Apple
properties such as iTunes & Beats, Pandora, Google Play, Deezer,
Rhapsody, and Tidal as well as radio streaming services.
2

4. Why is Spotify my favorite app?
Music is a big part of life, and for me, it represents different rhythms of my
day. I’m listening to music at the gym, salsa and swing dancing, driving in my
car, in heavy contemplation, when looking for a diversion from heavy
contemplation, and walking down the street. All of these activities require
good music!
Before Spotify, I was using two platforms, iTunes and Pandora. As someone
who has varied tastes in music and a preference for Latin Rock, I could not get
the content I was missing, so I would waffle between purchasing and listening
to my current Latin songs on iTunes and trying in vain to discover new music
on Pandora while trying to bypass ads and recommendations to find
something decent and not too “poppy” to listen to.
When Spotify came around, it not only had a much larger library than Pandora
(including a more updated list of Latin tunes), but I could connect Spotify with
my existing iTunes collection and create my own library with all of my music.
What was equally great was the ability to see what my friends were listening
to and follow their playlists as I know most of them have great taste and
represent diverse styles.
3

5. What problem does Spotify solve for the
consumer?
• Integration with existing music libraries: Unlike most competitors, Spotify allows for a user’s own
music library to be uploaded on top of it’s library of 30 million songs. This integration allows the
creation of playlists to be seamlessly enjoyed, without switching music platforms.
• Large library: Until very recently, Spotify had a larger library than most competitors, offering more
music options than main competitor, Pandora.
• Social collaboration: Spotify allows for the user to connect with friends and collaborate on
playlists, which is great for parties, road-trips, or sharing taste profiles.
• Music discovery: Although Spotify has lagged behind competitors in terms of tailored algorithms
that create music suggestions, it has released playlists based on mood and tempo to match
speeds while running or while active.
• A “default” Facebook music app: Spotify had an exclusive deal with Facebook in 2011 to become
it’s only default music app, serving as the launch pad for Spotify. This deal not only allowed for
increased exposure, but also allowed social sharing to become a more native activity for Spotify
users.
• Piracy: With the freemium service, Spotify safely bridges the gap between free and paid music
content providers, curbing the need to “pirate” desirable content and risk government fines,
viruses from file sharing, and content quality.
• Playlists: On a personal note, I was recently gearing up for Bottle Rock in Napa and did not know
the majority of 40+ bands that would perform. Spotify happened to have a playlist created for the
festival, including all of the popular songs from each band performing over the 3 day festival.
Additionally, Spotify creates playlists based on mood and activity level so new songs can be
discovered in this manner as well as from their algorithm.
4

6. Who is Spotify for?
Age: Research suggests that Spotify is primarily for those
between ages 18-34.
Gender: Free reports, such as Alexa, show that it’s a near
50/50 split, skewing slightly female.
Income: Due to higher price point, we could assume that the
paid Spotify user may have more discretionary income and fall
into the $60-$100k annual salary category.
Education: Alexa puts the education level of the Spotify user
at about the same as the general Internet user, slightly over-
indexing for college degree and higher.
Geographics: Research suggests that geographically, the paid
subscribers that represent 91% of Spotify’s revenue live in the
Northern, Central, and Southern coasts and are less
represented in the Middle West and Middle South of the USA.
Disclaimer: Answering question “Who do you think this app/service/product is for?” I am providing estimates in addition to
data resources to back up this response. Please see subsequent slides for deeper insights and their sources.
5

7. REVENUE & COMPANY FACTS 6

8. Snapshot: Quick Facts & Revenue
• Founded in 2008 in Stockholm
• Available in 58 countries
• Offices in 18 geographies
• Access to 30 million songs
• 75mm MAU Worldwide
• 20mm paying subscribers
Funding & Revenue
• Privately Held
• $8.4B valuation
• $1.1B raised in 9 rounds of
venture funding
• 15% of company owned by
licensing companies
• 91% revenue from
subscription
Quick Company Facts
7

9. Increases in paid subscriptions and influx of investment capital have
pushed Spotify’s revenue past $1B; yet rapid losses trouble investors
0.4 12.77
73.85
187.83
430.3
747
1181
-0.33 -18.8 -28.45 -45.4
-86.7 -58
-179
-400
-200
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Millioneuros
Revenue Net Income Note
Larger losses reported were said
to have been the result of
product development,
international expansion, and
general increases in personnel;
personnel increased by on-third
Y/Y.
+58% Y/Y
-209% Y/Y
8

10. Challenges and Opportunities
• Costly agreements and small margins. 70% of revenue is paid to license music. More established
companies like Pandora have been around longer and have different licensing agreements,
making them less susceptible to annual contract changes that could disrupt user experience.
Opportunity could be to change licensing agreements for longer-term partnerships to lower fees,
especially on older content. If 15% of the company is owned by licensing firms, Spotify may be
able to appeal to these investors to drop fees.
• Venture funded. There is a need to appease investors who want to see a rapid increase in paid
subscriptions and eliminate the freemium model, which has served as an important “hook” to
convert users to paid service.
• Over-reliance on subscription fees: If 91% of revenue comes from paid subscribers and we can
assume the other 9% of the revenue comes from ads, then it could be possible to add a third
revenue and fourth revenue stream vis a vis (a) paid artist promotion and (b) increasing revenue
share fees with companies like Apple if Spotify users are likely to purchase songs on iTunes.
• Over-reliance on Facebook partner: Over 50% of Spotify’s monthly active users (MAUs) come
from Facebook. Facebook is a very important partner for Spotify, however, this partnership could
be threatening if Spotify is not able to negotiate a good deal for itself or if Facebook decides to
dump Spotify when the exclusivity contract ends.
• Music discovery: Radio remains top source for music discovery; there could be an opportunity
within music discovery.
• Operations costs: Presence in 18 countries and availability of the service in 58 countries may be
weighing heavily on operations costs, using almost all revenue from earnings to expand while
relying on investor capital.
9

11. FEATURES & BEHAVIORAL SPENDING 10

12. Features I would like to see integrated
Concert Notifications and Purchase Options:
A few years ago, Spotify sunset the Songkick app from the
Spotify platform for reasons unspecified, however, we can
assume that the relationship was not profitable. Songkick
allowed for Spotify users to discover concerts and purchase
tickets.
• Songkick may not have been very prevalent on the site or
may have redirected the user out of the Spotify
experience and onto an unknown platform; if this were
integrated, I would certainly use it!
Social Connections Based on Music for Concert Outings:
Due to the nature of my music - Latin - it can be a little
more difficult to get friends out to see an amazing band if
it’s not Shakira or another successful crossover artist. It
would be great if Spotify could increase it’s social sharing
prowess to match people or put large groups together that
share common music tastes for concert outings. I have
dance friends, I have foodie friends, I have foreign language
friends, why not concert friends? If music speaks to a part
of our soul, I could see making good friends through shared
music experiences.
11

13. Important Behavioral Insights:
On-demand streamers are heavy event
ticket spenders
According to a Nielsen study, “Users of on-demand music
streaming services are 90% more likely than the average
consumer to be heavy spenders on music. (They are also 50%
more likely to be heavy spenders on event tickets).”
• Consumers spend $109 annually on music activity
• Live music accounts for just over half of total music activity spending
• Festival-goers spend more than typical music listeners on all forms of music
overall (e.g., digital purchases, streaming, live events, etc.); 32M people
attend festivals a year
12

14. ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS 13

15. New featurethat could be a gamble
Spotify is reportedly going to roll out videos based on news that
video is growing like crazy on smartphones; however I am
hoping they have asked themselves these important questions:
1. What activities are your users participating in while using Spotify? Does
the music app have their full attention or are they distracted with other
activities?
2. Where are your users when streaming online music content? Alexa notes
that Spotify users over-index for usage of the service while at work.
3. Is there a reason that MTV stopped playing music videos to focus on
other formats; are music videos still relevant to today’s 18-34 year old
audience?
4. Is the possible revenue gain from providing such a service significant?
5. Are users on web or mobile device primarily?
1. Video takes up a lot of data and is not always optimal to use on a smartphone
without Internet connection as the service is often interrupted.
14

16. CONCLUSION 15

17. Spotify is a great service that is loved by
many, but may have difficulty surviving
• Spotify has a rapidly growing product that consumers love and
the industry envies.
• Spotify could be adding more features with new partnerships,
including concert ticketing agencies. The challenge will be how
to seamlessly integrate the service and notify users. Songkick
partnership was likely not profitable due to low usership of
Spotify in the USA in the first few years of the US launch.
• Spotify has potential to outpace competitors if it can figure
out a more sustainable way to expand.
• Spotify should be cautious about music video feature rollout.
• Adding revenue streams would help Spotify to become less
reliant on subscription fees, putting investors more at ease. 16

18. APPENDIX
Additional information and sources for demographics and behavior of Spotify users and the general
population of on-demand music streamers
17

19. Behaviors of music streamers
• 18-35 year olds over-index on Spotify. Although teens slightly over-
index as well, they are less likely to spend on music streaming.
• Paid users make up 26% of Spotify users yet supply 91% of Spotify
revenue, so we can assume paid users are the target demographic.
• Mobile is important: 88% of Spotify users stream music on a
smartphone.
• Hip hop, Rock, and Pop make up 75% of music genres streamed in
the US.
• More than half of Spotify’s users are driven from the Facebook app
• On-demand music streamers are 50% more likely to be heavy
spenders on event tickets.
*Note: Not all Spotify-specific demographics are available in current resources/data tools; on-demand
music streaming industry reports used to reflect likely demographics of Spotify users. See Appendix slides for sources and further
details
18

20. Spotify users are 18-34
comScore shows that the US age demographic over-indexes significantly in the
18-34 year old age categories; the 12 – 17 age bracket slightly over-indexes
and is more likely to use the free version of Spotify.
105
172
152
94 90
54
29
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
Age 12-17 Age 18-24 Age 25-34 Age 35-44 Age 45-54 Age 55-64 Age 65+
Indexscore
Age group
19

21. Paid Music Streaming Penetration Rate
Nearly Even Between East & West
West Coast: 16%
Mid & South
Atlantic: 10%
East South Central: 5%
E. North Central
& New England: 6%
Mountain: 4%
20

22. 88% Spotify users stream music on
smartphone
88%
69%
44%
Spotify Music Streamers Other MusicStreamers Non-Streamers
% Listen to Music on Smartphone
n = 4,500; 33 streaming platforms were included in the study
21

23. 75% of all streamed music lies within 3
popular genres
5%
1%
2%
5%
6%
7%
21%
25%
29%
Other*
Holiday/Seasonal
Christian
Latin
Country
Dance/Electronic
Pop
Rock
Hip Hop/R&B
75%
“Other” category includes Jazz, Children’s, Christian/Gospel, and Holiday/Seasonal music
22

24. 85.6%
61.4%
60.8%
60.2%
53.6%
39.3%
36.9%
32.5%
29.4%
27.3%
25%
24.2%
21.7%
19%
15.3%
Text messaging/SMS
Instagram
Facebook
Snapchat
YouTube
Netflix
Twitter
Pandora
Apple Music/ iTunes/Beats
Facebook Messenger
Google Plus
Spotify
Cable Network Websites or Apps (FX,…
Pinterest
Other “Free” 3rd party Music…
Share of respondents that use app or website daily
Spotify less popular than competitors Apple and Pandora with those
entering the 18-24 age bracket, a key segment for Spotify
n = 10,000 college-bound high school seniors
23

25. 40 of Spotify’s 75mm MAU’s come
from the Facebook app
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Sep
'11
Nov
'11
Aug
'12
Sep
'12
Oct
'12
Nov
'12
Dec
'12
Jan
'13
Feb
'13
Mar
'13
July
'13
Sep
'13
Jan
'14
Mar
'14
Jun
'14
Sep
'14
Jan
'15
Mar
'15
Jun
'15
SpotifyUsersinMillions
Monthly active users
Daily active users
40
11
24