Spotify's lack of music exclusives isn't turning people away

Tech Insider

You still can't stream Kanye's new album on Spotify.

Big artists like Kanye West and Taylor Swift choose to keep their music off Spotify, yet the Swedish music streaming service keeps adding new users.

Spotify has hit 30 million paid listeners, its CEO Daniel Ek tweeted on Monday. To put that number into perspective, Spotify had 20 million paying subscribers when Apple Music launched last summer.

About 11 million people currently pay for Apple's competing service, which has increasingly fought to secure exclusive deals with artists like Coldplay and Drake.

There's also the Jay Z-owned Tidal to consider, which has a significantly lower user base than Spotify and Apple Music. In an attempt to lure people away from its competitors, Tidal has aggressively gone after exclusive streaming rights to new music, with its most notable get to date being Kanye West's "The Life of Pablo."

Spotify has clearly decided to not play the exclusive game with Apple and Tidal, and in the short term that means some of the hottest new music is either put on Spotify late or not at all. But it's clear that people are paying for Spotify regardless.