Spotify’s Conundrum: More Subscribers, More Problems

Spotify’s Oct. 29 third-quarter earnings call was full of good news. The service now reaches 320 million monthly users with 144 million paid subscribers (up from 299 million and 138 million in the previous quarter, respectively), and its advertising business “returned to growth” after a pandemic-related decline. “There’s a significant pent-up demand for Spotify around the world,” said co-founder/CEO Daniel Ek, “even in places whe