Subscription revenues claimed 91.5% of Spotify‘s total platform income in the UK last year – up from 90% in 2013 – but its losses widened in the market.
Spotify subs sales reached £119.16m in calendar year 2014, up 29.6% on the £91.95m posted in 2013.
Meanwhile, Spotify UK’s ad-supported income hit £11.09m in 2014, up by a slower 8.6%.
In other words, subscription income is worth more than 10 times that of ad-supported revenue in the UK.
Across both categories, overall annual product income was up 27.5% year-on-year to £130.24m.
(The above chart discounts ‘inter-company services’ – denoting money passed from one Spotify subsidiary to another – and uncategorised negligible income.)
Spotify Ltd. in the UK recently filed its annual calendar year accounts for 2014.
As you can see below, in monetary terms, ad-funded income rose by just £882,188 last year, while premium subscription revenue grew by £27,203,694.
A note within the UK annual report from Spotify Ltd director Angela Watts says that: “2014 was a transformative year for Spotify. Following the launch of a free tier on all platforms in 2013, we successfully transitioned from desktop to mobile in the months that followed, ending with record growth in subscribers in the fourth quarter.”
Because of the way that Spotify can move money around its international businesses, the UK’s balance sheet is a little less illuminating than its subscriber/ad-funded numbers.
It’s worth remembering that Spotify’s consolidated global figures for 2014 were revealed earlier this year, giving a true impression of the financial health of the business. (A snapshot: €1.08bn in revenue across the year, but a net loss of €162m.)
We now know how the UK contributed to that figure, with an overall post-tax net loss of £1.21m in 2014
Spotify UK spent £8.54m on the wages and salaries of 167 staff in 2014 – an average per-employee annual income of £51,137.
In 2013, the UK HQ spent £5.97m on 120 staff – an average per-employee annual income of £49,750.
Pension plan costs quadrupled last year to £823,197.
Music Business Worldwide
