Spotify tried to make one thing very clear to its investors this week: that it's still in its "growth" phase.
On Monday Spotify announced plans to move into 85 new markets, mostly in Asia, Africa, the Pacific and the Caribbean, as well as announcing a new premium subscription with "higher quality" audio. According to the Swedish streaming giant, those new markets should open the company up to more than 1 billion new potential customers.
Growth, growth, growth
If you read last week's newsletter you'll have noticed that at a quick glance this chart looks a lot like the Shopify one from Friday. But, despite similar sounding names, SHOP and SPOT are in very different places. For Spotify its growth has slowed down to a healthy, but not outrageous, 16%. That's why the announcements on Monday feel so important for the company.
Reiterating the message, that Spotify is still very much a growth company, is clearly the top priority for Spotify management. If investors begin to see Spotify as a lower growth business, they'll need to see profits to justify owning the shares — which isn't something Spotify has been good at producing in the last decade, reporting a net loss in every single year since 2011.
The big podcasts bet
Last year 55% of Americans reported that they have listened to a podcast, up from 51% the year before. It's no surprise then that Spotify has also doubled down on its big podcasts bet, unveiling a raft of new exclusive podcasts featuring big names such as Barack & Michelle Obama, Bruce Springsteen and Ava DuVernay.
