Spotify Paid Subscribers Grow 33% in 6 Months To 40 Million, But It’s A Dodgy Number

New numbers shared by Spotify CEO Daniel EK show the music streamer growing from 30 million paid subscribers 6 months ago to 40 million. The music streamer appears to be solidifying its dominate position, even as major competitors, including Pandora and Amazon, new ready services.

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Spotify now has 40 million paid subscribers, up from 30 million 6 months ago. The music streamer also has about 70 million additional users of a their free ad supported service.The news came yesterday in a playful tweet from CEO Daniel Ek.

40 is the new 30.
Million. ????

— Daniel Ek (@eldsjal) September 14, 2016

Wait, Its Not Really 40 Million Paying $9.99 Every Month

Spotify's claim of 40 million paid subscribers does not, however, mean that 40 million people are paying Spotify $9.99 or the local currency equivalent every month. Spotify's Family Plan allows up 6 users for a total of $14.99 per month. Each of those 6 is technically a paid subscribers, but if using the full 6 premium accounts, are effectively paying $2.50 each per month.Spotify's popular Student plan at is just $4.99 per month, and the music streamer also regularly offers new subscribers (and creative existing ones) 3 months for 99 cents. With June the last 99 cent promotion in the US and Canada, anyone who signed up then is still paying 33 cents a month for 3 months, but could be included in Ek's tweeted 40 million.Still, 40 million is an impressive number, and signals Spotify's growing dominance. By comparison, Apple Music has 17 million paid subscribers, Deezer six million, and both Rhapsody and Tidal are in the 3-4 million subscriber range.