Which way, USA? Latest DMN Pro data shows a problematic slide in stateside Spotify subscribers (Photo: GDJ)
DMN Pro first reported serious subscriber slowdowns at Amazon Music in 2024. Now, it’s Spotify’s turn: according to leaked figures, the mega-DSP shed stateside subscribers in early 2025. In response, Spotify told DMN that its paying subscribers are growing ‘in all regions,’ but declined to offer further details.
Spotify came out swinging in its latest quarterly financial call, thanks to a 12% year-over-year global premium subscriber bump. But how many of those subscribers are coming from outside of ARPU-rich regions like North America and Western Europe?
Yes, this is the nagging ‘subscriber plateau’ dogging the music industry, though ‘decline’ may be the new ‘flat’ — at least in markets like the United States.
Just last week, DMN Pro revealed a noticeable decline of roughly 5% in US-based Spotify subscribers during the first two months of 2025, citing leaked data from sources at a major music conglomerate.
Admittedly, that doesn’t amount to a full quarter, and month-to-month bumps aren’t unusual. But perhaps there’s a reason why Spotify has specifically decided against increasing prices in the US — at least according to the Financial Times. That follows a slip by Believe pointing to a pullback by Spotify and other DSPs on an aggressive price increase schedule.
All of which begs the question: is the industry finally crossing the consumer price sensitivity point, particularly in the US?
Adding a bit more smoke to this fire, Spotify declined to break down US — or even North American — stats in a discussion with Digital Music News.
Calling the data ‘incorrect,’ Spotify Global Head of Communications Chris Macowski pointed DMN to ‘Y/Y and Q/Q growth across all regions’ in Q1, while pointing to year-over-year data in Spotify’s investor presentation deck. Hoping to fill in the blanks, we asked specifically about US subscriber stats in 2025 — before getting ghosted.
Perhaps most concerning: the early-2025 declines in the US are happening in the core number of paid accounts, which strips out multiple users (for example, six subscribers in a group Family account). That raises another inconvenient question: how many people are actually logging into these group accounts? Our best estimates still show a decline, with a clear drop in the actual number of paid US-based accounts.
The United States remains the largest music industry market, according to the IFPI, and one of the most lucrative on the ARPU scale. Meanwhile, more Q1 data is coming — we’ll keep you posted.
Separately, Spotify’s higher-priced ‘super-premium’ (aka ‘Music Pro’ or ‘Superfan’) tier remains elusive, with CEO Daniel Ek noticeably mum on the topic.
Half a world away, Tencent Music is going gangbusters with super-premium offerings, though Spotify looks stuck at the starting blocks after years of teasing their upgraded tier(s). During the Q1 call, Ek whipped up an admirable word salad on the topic, with once-promising add-ons like higher-fidelity audio and exclusive tickets suddenly absent from the discussion.
“But for the near term, the way to think about it for Spotify is, we’re not dependent on that for growth, but we want to make it happen. … [F]or the superfan [subscription tier], we do need the partners to come to the table and be part of this trip,” Ek said without offering any concrete plans or releases ahead.
Elsewhere on the superfan front, DMN is hearing reports of continued fragmentation, with mega-players like Live Nation disinterested in gifting jewels like pre-release concert tickets — at least without a serious bag of cash consideration.
Separately, UMG is marching forward with its own superfan-focused artist pages, as are notable upstarts like Dave Cool-helmed MySeat Media, which just facilitated an impressive G Herbo superfan app loaded with exclusive cuts.
Other artists are likely to roll their own — superfan apps, that is — but how much will that detract from streaming giants like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music, which now hog 99% of the streaming music subscriber marketshare in some territories?
And while we’re on the topic of non-standard, premium streaming apps: which mega-festival is cooking up a huge genre-focused streaming app, loaded with live performance exclusives for its heavy-spending attendees? This one’s gonna be big and juicily high-ARPU — stay tuned!
Data & Research, Feature Story, Music Apps, Music Industry News, Music Streaming, Sales Data & Stats, Wall Street
This post was originally authored and published by Paul Resnikoff Digital Music News via RSS Feed. Join today to get your news feed on Nationwide Report®.
