Spotify gained more users in the first quarter, despite the outcry about comedian Joe Rogan’s podcasts earlier this year. The originally Swedish company now has 422 million monthly active users, an increase of 19 percent compared to a year earlier.
There are now 182 million paid subscribers of all users. However, Spotify came into disrepute early this year after several major artists, such as singer Neil Young decided to remove their music from the service.
According to the musicians and other critics, comedian Joe Rogan would spread disinformation about the coronavirus in his Spotify podcast.
Spotify has also withdrawn from Russia because of the war in Ukraine. As a result, the company lost 1.5 million paying subscribers in the country. In addition, Spotify still had to deal with a malfunction in March.
Spotify, listed on the New York stock exchange, expects the number of monthly active users to grow to 428 million in the second quarter, of which 187 million are paying subscribers.