Neil Cybart 2/19/26 Neil Cybart 2/19/26

Spotify Earnings, Something Feels off With Spotify, It's Time to Push Apple Music

Hello everyone. The initial plan was to have this update cover Spotify’s earnings along with a few other news items. However, in going through Spotify’s earnings call transcript, it quickly became apparent that a different discussion was needed. We will have that discussion today. This will free up some space in tomorrow’s update to pursue a few other topics.

Let’s jump in.

Spotify Earnings

Looking back over the past two to three years of Above Avalon Daily Spotify earnings reviews, the prevailing takeaway from our discussions was spectacular user growth offset by mediocre financials.

(As for how Spotify has been able to grow its subscriber base, we can’t underestimate the power of free, unmet demand in emerging markets, and family plan accounting.)

Spotify’s 4Q25 numbers were

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Neil Cybart 7/29/24 Neil Cybart 7/29/24

Spotify 2Q24 Earnings, Spotify vs. Apple Music

Happy Monday. This will be a busy week for earnings. We will begin preparing for Apple’s earnings release tomorrow. For today’s update, we focus on Spotify. It’s actually been nearly a year since we took a closer look at Spotify's financial performance. Let’s jump in.

Spotify 2Q24 Earnings

We will use a different method to quickly recap Spotify’s 2Q24 results. Here were year-over-year changes for several key line items that made up Spotify's 2Q24 income statement:

Revenue: +$630M (to $4.1B)
Cost of revenue: +$284M (to $2.9B) - for growth to come in less than revenue suggests better music licensing terms and improved monetization

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Neil Cybart 6/3/24 Neil Cybart 6/3/24

Spotify Raises U.S. Prices…Again, Spotify’s Sneaky Audiobook Move, Apple’s Opportunity

Happy Monday.

Spotify is raising prices in the U.S. for the second time in a year. Back in April, over at Inside Orchard, I discussed how Spotify is being pulled in different directions as its advertising apparatus comes in weaker than management hoped.

For today’s discussion, we are going to take things in a different direction as there are some changes in the music streaming landscape that Apple can take advantage of.

Let's jump right in.

Spotify Raises U.S. Prices…Again

Here’s Variety:

“Spotify is hiking rates for its monthly streaming plans in the U.S. for the second time in a year.

The Spotify Premium Individual plan is increasing by $1, from $10.99 to $11.99 per month, according to the company’s updated price listings. The Premium Family plan, which provides access for up to six members a household, is going up by $3, from $16.99 to $19.99 per month.

In the U.S. — Spotify’s biggest market — the company raised prices on its subscription plans in July 2023, the first time it had increased rates since launching in the country in 2011.

‘As we continue to grow our platform, we are updating our Premium prices so that we can keep innovating in changing market conditions,’ the company says in an FAQ about the price increases on its customer-service site. ‘These updates will help us continue delivering value to fans.’”

Even though this latest price increase had been rumored for the past few months, a June effective date is earlier than expected. We will go over what looks to be a big driver behind these price hikes shortly.

Price increases have become the norm across the streaming landscape. On social media, pushback to price hikes have been mixed.

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