Spotify announced today that it has doubled the number of paying subscriptions since the end of May last year. The streaming music service now has 20 million subscribers and 75 million active users, compared to 10 million subscribers last year and just 40 million active users.
The news comes as the Wall Street Journal reports that Spotify raised a new funding round of $526 million, valuing the company at more than $8.5 billion.
Apple’s just-announced streaming music service, Apple Music, will be available on all iPhones dating back to the 4S, including the nearly 75 million iPhones sold in the first quarter of 2015. That alone is almost more than the active users of Spotify. While not all those phones will have a subscription to Apple Music, users will be able to easily sign up for the service, which might lead to fast adoption.
Spotify’s founder Daniel Ek apparently responded to Monday’s Apple Music announcement with a now deleted tweet, screen-captured below.
Spotify also announced that it has paid out more than $3 billion in royalties to artists, with $300 million sent out in the first three months of this year. Spotify has recently been on the defensive about artist royalties. Jay-Z’s new competing service, Tidal, is advertised as being a better option for artists.
