Sawt Falasteen - Spotify sees 12% rise in paid subscribers

"People come to Spotify and they stay on Spotify. By constantly evolving, we create more and more value for the almost 700 million people using our platform," said Daniel Ek, the Swedish company's founder and CEO.

The Swedish company saw a greater-than-predicted 11 percent year-on-year increase in its totally monthly active users to 696 million.

Yet operating profit reached 406 million euros ($468 million) -- up 52.6 percent, but well short of its 539 million euro forecast.

Spotify blamed the shortfall on increased spending on salaries, changes in its revenue mix and higher-than-expected social charges.

"Social Charges were €98 million above forecast due to share price appreciation during the quarter," the streamer explained in its financial results presentation.

Total revenue rose by 10.1 percent to 4.19 billion euros.

The below-expectation profit announcement comes as the streamer has found itself at the centre of the debate over music generated by artificial intelligence.

The technology's rise has led artists to complain about the prospect of being drowned out by a flood of AI-composed songs.

Of the major streaming platforms, only Deezer alerts listeners if a track is entirely conceived thanks to AI, despite the swift explosion in the number of AI-generated songs.

When questioned by AFP in late May, Ek insisted that AI did not present a threat to the music industry, and would instead help develop creativity.

C.Hamad--SF-PST