PARIS — Leading music-streaming service Spotify saw its revenue soar 81% to 1.94 billion euros ($2.17 billion) in 2015, but its losses also grew 6.7% to 173 million euros because of the company’s increased investment.
The figures, released Monday, continue the pattern of growth and loss that has marked Spotify since 2013, as the outfit keeps beefing up its offering and investing in new products.
Although it has yet to raise its profit margins, Spotify has been gaining ground since its launch in 2008, in spite of stiff competition from rivals Apple, Rhapsody, Google Play and Jay Z’s Tidal, among other services.
Spotify, which employs a “freemium” model offering both limited free use and a more expansive subscription service, recently announced that it had signed up 30 million subscribers. At the end of last year, the company had a total of 89 million users, 28 million of them paying subscribers, and garnered $1.94 billion, compared with $1 billion in 2014. Spotify’s advertising revenue, meanwhile, rose 98% to $218.9 million.
“We believe that we will generate substantial revenues as our reach expands and that, at scale, our margins will improve. We will therefore continue to invest relentlessly in our product and marketing initiatives to accelerate reach,” the company said in a statement, adding that it considered 2015 to be its best year ever in many ways.
“Subscription-only models have not yet proven scale, and free-user models, while scaling, have not proven a path to profitability. Spotify has the combined power of both,” the company said.
Spotify’s war chest remains in good shape: The company raised $1 billion in debt financing in March, according to a Wall Street Journal report, and is believed to have raised a total of $2.5 billion.
Earlier this month, Spotify also announced a move into original videos with the launch of 12 new shows rooted in music, pop culture and animation.
Spotify also recently partnered with Starbucks to be integrated across 7,500 stores.
