Spotify wants us all to join its 20th anniversary celebrations

Looking at its finances, no wonder the streamer’s in a festive mood.

“Please join us for your party of the year(s),” the digital invitation had read, as I was plunged into yet another interactive wrap reminder from Spotify that my music taste has remained almost exactly the same for more than a decade.

Still, while my penchant for misery-tinged guitar music and some hyperpop has remained steady, the Swedish streaming giant has been on a much more interesting journey since its founding two decades ago — hence the digital celebrations, with the personalized retrospective just one installment from its “20 Days, 20 Data Drops” series.

Since it was founded in 2006, launched in a few countries in 2008, and hit 10 million users in 2010, Spotify has grown to become the biggest audio streaming service in the world, with one in 12 people at the start of last year counted as monthly active Spotify users. Although not every one of those 761 million users pays to use the platform, the premium subscribers that Spotify has locked down with its gargantuan song library (and various other offerings), account for the lion’s share of the company’s still-expanding sales.

In Q1 2026, notably the first quarter since cofounder Daniel Ek stepped down as CEO on January 1, the company posted revenue that was up 8% from the year before to €4.5 billion, or around $5.3 billion. For our own “Wrapped” take on Spotify’s balance sheet, we re-indexed the company’s Q1 incomings and outgoings to $12.99 — the current cost of its premium subscription in the US, owing to another price hike in February.

For every $12.99 subscription fee Spotify receives, the company takes just another $1.21 from monthly active ad-supported users, of which there were 483 million at the latest count. On its total revenue figure, Spotify eked out a ~16% operating margin, with the majority of its costs spent covering royalty payments... huge outlays that the company often likes to tout, as debates around fair compensation for artists in the music industry play on.

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Texas sues Netflix, accusing streamer of spying on children and collecting user data without consent

The state of Texas filed a lawsuit Monday against streaming giant Netflix, alleging that the company has built a “behavioral-surveillance program of staggering scale.”

The suit alleges that Netflix is “deceptively designed” to be addictive, using features like autoplay to get viewers hooked, “mining those users for data, and then converting that data into lucrative intelligence for global advertising juggernauts.”

“When you watch Netflix, Netflix watches you,” the lawsuit reads.

“This lawsuit lacks merit and is based on inaccurate and distorted information,” Netflix said in a statement to Sherwood News. “Netflix takes our members’ privacy seriously and complies with privacy and data‑protection laws everywhere we operate.”

Texas is seeking civil penalties of “up to $10,000 per violation” of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act, along with an additional penalty of up to $250,000 per violation involving a consumer aged 65 or older.

“Netflix is not the ad-free and kid-friendly platform it claims to be. Instead, it has misled consumers while exploiting their private data to make billions,” said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the press release announcing the lawsuit.

Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment.