STOCKHOLM: Music streaming giant Spotify on Tuesday said it passed 600 million monthly users at the end of 2023, and that it was expecting a profitable first quarter of 2024.

“Spotify had a very strong quarter, rounding out a great year of truly remarkable growth across the company,” CEO Daniel Ek said in a post to X after the company published its fourth quarter earnings.

At the end of 2023, the company had 602 million monthly active users (MUAs), an increase of 23 percent compared to a year earlier.

The company also saw a 15 percent rise in paying subscribers, which make up the bulk of the company’s revenue, to 236 million.

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For the year, Spotify reported revenues of 13.2 billion euros ($14.2 billion), up from 11.7 billion euros the year before.

The company still saw an operating loss of 446 million euros in 2023, however this was still an improvement over the operating loss of 659 million euros in 2022.

The company has never posted a full-year net profit and only occasionally quarterly profits despite its success in the online music market.

In December, Spotify announced it would reduce its staff by around 17 percent in a bid to reduce costs, which followed earlier cuts announced in January and June of 2023.

In July, the Swedish company, which is listed on the New York stock exchange, announced it was raising its prices for premium subscribers “across a number of markets around the world,” following in the footsteps of similar moves by competing music services from Apple and Amazon.

Spotify has invested heavily since its launch to fuel growth with expansions into new markets and, in later years, exclusive content such as podcasts.

Last week, it announced it had renewed a deal with Joe Rogan, signing a “multi-year partnership” for his flagship chart-topping podcast.

For the first quarter of 2024, the company said it expects to reach 618 million MUAs and make an operating profit of 180 million euros.