This might interest those in this thread: Apple has approved Spotify’s app update in the United States, which will allow users to see prices and make purchases in the app without Apple’s payment system.
This decision follows a court order in which Apple was instructed to stop collecting commissions on purchases made through external links. Apple intends to appeal the decision but will comply with it.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/02/apple-clears-spotify-app-update-that-allows-purchases.html
Not really big news, but quite interesting. So, United Airlines passengers can now listen to Spotify playlists, audiobooks, and video podcasts directly from their seatback screens. This is the first time Spotify has offered such services on an airplane.
Christoffer Jennel has provided pre-earnings commentary as Spotify will release its Q2 results on Tuesday. 
We expect the business to continue demonstrating resilience amidst ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, supported by its high share of subscription revenues and compelling value proposition. Ahead of the Q2 results, we have slightly lowered our revenue and earnings forecasts, mainly due to exchange rates and social costs. We have also revised our medium- and long-term forecasts and identified long-term operational leverage in the business that was previously overlooked. As a result, we are now more optimistic about Spotify’s ability to scale revenue with a lower cost base, which has positively impacted our fair value. Nevertheless, the earnings outlook for the next 12 months remains unattractive at current levels, and potential upside is weighted towards 2027. Therefore, we reiterate our Reduce recommendation but raise our target price to $650 (previously $570) due to forecast changes and the impact of a weaker USD compared to the EUR.
Previous years were volatile for Spotify in terms of free cash flow, but now the company is generating significant free cash flow, though it remains to be seen how it will go in the future. Higher revenue with lower costs…
Q2 from the company’s website;
https://investors.spotify.com/financials/default.aspx#quarterly-results
Here are also Christoffer Jennel’s comments on Spotify’s results.
Spotify’s Q2 results fell short of our revenue and earnings estimates. However, subscriber growth was again better than expected, driven by broad-based strength across all markets. Q3 guidance followed a similar pattern: weaker earnings, but stronger user growth. Consensus seems to be more focused on the former than the latter, with the stock falling approximately 6–7% before the market opened. Following the report, we expect moderate downward revisions to our short-term forecasts, mainly concerning revenue and margins.
Here’s the company report as well.
Spotify’s Q2 report fell short of our revenue and earnings forecasts. However, subscriber growth was again better than expected, driven by broad-based strength across all markets. Q3 guidance followed the same pattern, with financial figures weaker than anticipated but user growth stronger. While strong momentum in MAU and net subscriber additions is encouraging and vital for Spotify’s long-term leadership, faster growth in lower ARPU emerging markets weakens short-term pricing. Combined with management’s cautious commentary on future price increases, this led to small forecast reductions in our ARPU estimates. Following the Q2 report, we slightly raised our assumptions related to user growth, but this was more than offset by forecast reductions related to pricing, currency headwinds, and slightly higher operating expenses. Despite the post-earnings share price decline, we still consider the risk-reward ratio unattractive. Therefore, we reiterate our Reduce recommendation and lower our target price to $625 (previously $650).
The point of the tweet seems to be that Spotify’s iOS usage in the United States has turned to a decline.
Growth peaked in early 2025, but since then, the trend has looked depressing.
https://x.com/ConsensusGurus/status/1960034435862274515
I’ll also add a tweet-length analysis here.
An announcement seemed to have popped up an hour ago about raising the price of premium by one euro, 11.99e → 12.99e / month, which is a good 8% increase.
Are they trying to compensate for a decreasing customer base? Surely, with the cost pressures of recent years, many have wondered if paying for all streaming and other services is sensible; something has to be cut.
I myself have been thinking hard about switching from Spotify to YouTube Premium; you can make those music lists there too…
The previous increase in Finland was in 2023, meaning the price has risen by about 4% per year. I consider that a very moderate increase in line with inflation. Inflation in 2023 was in the range of 4-8%. In 2024, 1-3%.
Spotify’s user base has been steadily increasing all the time, so there’s nothing to compensate for, at least not at a global level:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/244995/number-of-paying-spotify-subscribers/
I will gladly continue to pay for Spotify.
Such a euro or dollar per month still hardly affects anyone in any way, as it goes unnoticed, especially when Spotify is in daily use for many, compared to streaming series. Few think about it in percentages.
If YouTube / Apple Music makes it as easy as possible to transfer to their services, then there will start to be an impact. Few bother to tinker for a dollar. As an index owner, you don’t have to worry about these either.
Christoffer Jennel has commented on how Daniel EK is stepping down as CEO and moving to Board Chairman.
Spotify announced today that founder and CEO Daniel Ek will transition to Board Chairman starting January 1, 2026, while Gustav Söderström, Co-President and Chief Product & Technology Officer, and Alex Norström, Co-President and Chief Business Officer, will assume the CEO roles.
Spotify and Netflix are starting a collaboration where Spotify will bring video podcasts from The Ringer network to Netflix early next year in the United States.
The offering covers sports, culture, and true crime, aiming to expand the audiences of both parties. According to the story, the collaboration strengthens Spotify as a multimedia company and Netflix’s content selection.
"Key Points
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/14/spotify-ringer-netflix-video-podcasts.html
Hello everyone! My name is Christoffer Jennel and I am responsible for analysis monitoring at Spotify. Since our forum has now switched to multilingual mode, you can ask me questions and I will participate in the discussion here.
Christoffer has penned pre-comments as Spotify releases its Q3 results next Tuesday.
We expect Q3 revenue to be in line with guidance, driven by strong MAU/subscriber growth, but with currency headwinds weighing on average revenue per user. We have raised our Q3 operating profit forecast, as we believe the weak performance of the stock during Q3 (-9%) will bring benefits to operating expenses through lower social security contributions. We believe the markets have been somewhat concerned about management’s comments on future price increases in Q2 and the lack of price increases in larger markets until Q2. However, Spotify has since raised prices in several markets (excluding the United States), which, combined with recent platform improvements, has led us to slightly raise our ARPU assumptions. In our opinion, the risk-reward ratio remains weak, and we reiterate our Reduce recommendation, while revising our target price to $645 (previously $625) based on updated forecasts.
The report is out from Spotify.
Our analyst @christoffer.jennel has published a quick comment on the report:
“Spotify’s Q3 report exceeded our estimates for both revenue and earnings. Similarly, user base growth exceeded our forecast, driven by stronger development among ad-supported users.”
Read the full comment here: Spotify Q3'25 snabbkommentar: Lönsamheten överraskade positivt - Inderes
What did you think of the report from Spotify?
We have now released an analyst interview about Spotify where we discuss their Q4 guidance, thoughts on the premium/free model, and the general reception of the Q3 report. Analyst Christoffer is available here if you have any questions.
The interview is available here - Analytikerintervju: Spotify & NYAB - Inderes
News about Spotify.
From Dagens industri: “Spotify is now making a concerted effort, with a new compensation package, to get creators to start video podcasts – the new black in the industry.
With this, the Swedish music giant aims to assert itself in competition with YouTube, which already claims to have reached over 1 billion viewers of video podcasts.
“We can’t just replicate someone else. That would be foolish and wouldn’t work,” says Roman Wasenmüller, global head of podcasts at Spotify.”
Spotify cracked. Instead of personal data, the catalog was taken. 256 million tracks and their metadata have been released for public sharing. This forms the largest music-related database available in public distribution.
The tweet below suggests that AI is no longer just an add-on feature; it can now handle digital advertising and video production almost entirely. Data rules, and the revenue streams of industry giants are surging; manual tweaking is largely becoming a thing of the past as “machines” optimize everything.
Giants like Spotify will likely remain among the biggest beneficiaries going forward.
https://x.com/SergeyCYW/status/2004160715939262759
