The Swedish streaming company posted total quarterly revenue of US$1.92 billion and 113 million paid subscribers as of the end of September. Net income attributable to shareholders reached 36 cents per share, compared to analysts’ expectations of a 29-cent loss per share. Spotify stock was up over 16 per cent at publication time. (Reuters)

Talking point: In a letter to shareholders, Spotify said it was adding about twice as many subscribers a month as Apple Music, that its monthly engagement was about twice as high and its churn rate half that of its rival. Apple remains the number-one paid music streaming service in the U.S., however, and reportedly plans to start bundling the service with its forthcoming TV- and movie-streaming product. Spotify can also expect competition from ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent firm, which is creating its own music-streaming platform called Yinyuebang. The move may help TikTok and its domestic version, Douyin, as well, as ByteDance has previously been reluctant to pay the higher royalties required to allow the use of copyrighted music on those short-video platforms.