Spotify is focused on Growth, Video, AI and Superfans

After reporting a strong Q3 2024 Tuesday, Spotify focused on Growth, video, AI and superfans during a call with investors and analysts that followed.

In after hours trading Tuesday, Spotify stock soared from $419 to as high as $458.

Spotify focused on Growth, Video, AI and Superfans

Key takeaways from the Q3 2024 earnings call:

• User Growth – Active users now exceed 640 million monthly. That’s up 16 million users in the last three months and 11% over the previous year.

• Paid Subscribers – 252 million of those are now paid Premium subscribers.

• Profits – After years of losses, Spotify is increasingly profitable company with Q3 no expectation. The streamer is now on track to post an annual operating profit of $1.5 billion in 2024.

• Video – Expect more video on Spotify with CEO Daniel Ek tipping a major announcement today (Wednesday).

• AI – Ek described AI as “both thrilling and humbling.” “Moments like this don’t come often. They’re inflection points where you can either let the opportunity slip by or you can seize it and press forward with conviction. We’re choosing the latter… I see potential for transformative shifts in music discovery and new innovative ways to connect artists and fans like never before.”

• Superfans – EK echoed current industry interest in Superfans and fan monetization. While providing no specifics on how the streamer will get involved, he offered these hints:

“The principles for us is always the same, which is how do we create something that consumers love, but that also delivers value back to creators. And you can go back to vinyl buyers, you can go back to all of these superfans that already exist to look for clues in what some of the things are that they value,” he said.

“Some of those things are proximity to artists. Some of those things are, of course, better sound quality and a bunch of other things. I can’t get into specifics, but I think I’ve left enough breadcrumbs for you guys to get excited by.”

• Live Music – In previous earnings calls, EK talked about the importance of live music to Spotify. Yesterday there was no mention of its efforts to help fans find shows and artist sell more tickets.

Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a Berklee College Of Music professor.