This statistic gives information on the number of Spotify employees from 2011 to 2018 . In the most recently reported period , the total number of employees at the music streaming service was 4,165 . In 2011 , Spotify employed 311 workers . Spotify and digital music Starting out as a Sweden-based startup , Spotify has evolved into a strong player in the digital content subscription market . The music streaming service was publicly launched in 2008 and has gone on to become a company with more than 5.25 billion euros in annual revenue . Spotify legally provides content from record labels including EMI , Sony , Universal and Warner Music Group . The basic version of the service is free and higher tiers of paid subscription feature no ads and access on mobile devices . Although available as a stand-alone service , Spotify made its US debut in July 2011 as a Facebook application and has since included heavily integrated social features like shared tracks and messaging between users . As of September 2015 , more than 39 million users were accessing Spotify via the social network . The streaming service currently has more than 20 million paying subscribers , up from 10 million in May 2014 . As of February 2015 , Spotify ranks as one of the most popular audio apps downloaded by US smartphone users and one of the most popular streaming media sites in Europe . Streaming media is currently undergoing a strong upwards trend with global digital music revenues amounted to 2.8 billion US dollars in 2017 . With the decline of physical music sales , the digital revenue of easily accessible streaming services is more important than ever .
