You might get the idea that Spotify is just rolling around in money based on frequent updates from the company and the complaints from performers alleging they aren't getting paid enough for their work. The truth is largely the opposite until this year, when both Spotify UK and Spotify France posted their first profits.
Spotify UK revealed its financial reports from 2013 during early October, revealing that its revenues had grown by more than 40 percent, a total of the equivalent of $210 million. That doesn't equate to much of a profit per se—only $4.2 million—but that's a heck of a lot better than the $17.6 million net loss it notched during 2012. France is in a similar position, turning out a net profit of roughly $3.26 million. Both companies benefitted from increased numbers of premium subscribers, with Spotify UK reporting a rise of more than 40 percent in those opting to pay for the service.
The announcement that Spotify France had managed to break into the green was perhaps more surprising considering the competition it faces from Deezer, a homegrown streaming giant. Spotify is still second in the nation but has stolen a 35 percent chunk of the streaming market.
The expansion of the company is still going rapidly (it branched into Brazil, one of the world's biggest buyers of mobil phones, earlier this year) but with that the number of the overall deficit of the company. The company as a whole is still operating in the red and some have even suggested that the streaming business model is insolvable, or impossible to profit on as a whole even under perfect circumstances.
The company will have to look to the UK and France and hope that's not true.
