STOCKHOLM – Music streaming giant Spotify on Tuesday reported a total of 205 million paying subscribers at the end of 2022, beating expectations, but its losses deepened.

The Swedish company, which last week announced it was cutting almost 6 per cent of its workforce to reduce costs, posted a net loss of €430 million (S$614 million) for 2022, compared with a loss of €34 million in 2021.

Analysts forecast a loss of €441 million, according to data provider Factset.

Revenue for the full year also slightly beat forecasts, coming in at €11.7 billion, or an increase of 21 per cent from a year earlier.

The number of paying subscribers climbed by 14 per cent to 205 million, beating analysts’ expectations of 202 million, which the group attributed to strong growth in all regions, especially in Latin America.

It is the first time Spotify has surpassed 200 million paying subscribers.

Spotify founder and chief executive Daniel Ek said the company “delivered great platform growth”.

“We ended 2022 strongly despite a challenging year,” Mr Ek said in a post to Twitter.

Among other things, the company also said it benefited from promotional campaigns, a strong holiday season, and robust growth among Gen Z users.

The total number of monthly users, including subscribers using the free version, totalled 489 million at the end of 2022 and should hit the 500 million mark in 2023, Spotify said.

The platform has only occasionally posted a quarterly profit since its launch.

It has regularly posted annual losses despite strong subscriber growth and having had a head start on rivals such as Apple Music and Amazon Music.

Spotify relies on subscriptions for most of its revenue, and has had to spend much more than it earns to keep and expand its customer base.

Mr Ek last week announced the group was cutting about 600 jobs out of a total of about 10,000, following similar moves by other tech industry giants.

Spotify has also invested more than €1 billion in podcasting in recent years, but analysts say the company has yet to prove the investment is bearing fruit.

Its venture into podcasts has also been a source of controversy, with US star Joe Rogan accused of spreading misinformation in his shows.

Doubts about the platform have also been reflected in Spotify’s share price, which has lost almost two-thirds of its value over the past two years. AFP