

Spotify is currently available (April 2016) in 69 countries with an active user base of 100 million in January 2016, with 36 million paying subscribers in July 2016. The Premium subscription includes a better sound quality, an offline music mode and allows users to listen their music on mobile devices. Spotify is an interactive on-demand music streaming portal with a Freemium ad-supported tier and an ad-free Premium tier for £/US$/EUR 9.99 per month.

was founded in April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon in Stockholm, but its music streaming service was launched as a legal alternative to P2P music file sharing during the culmination of the Pirate Bay process in October 2008. The Economics of Music Streaming: Spotify In the first part of this series I examine the global market leader in the music streaming market, the Swedish music streaming company Spotify.

I try to assess who will be the winners and losers by analysing the financials of several music streaming companies. Thus, the question arises which music streaming services will survive that consolidation process. After years of growth, we can expect a market consolation for the new few months with mergers, acquisitions and insolvencies. 2016 is the pivotal year for the music streaming industry.
