Spotify revenues rise but losses widen

Spotify saw revenues reach €1.95bn ($2.2bn; £1.5bn) over the past year, but the Swedish music streaming platform has still not made a profit.

Losses deepened at the industry leader, which offers music over the internet for free with advertisements or ad-free for a fixed monthly rate.

Revenue increased by 80% over the past year, beating the 45% growth rate of 2014 by a wide margin.

Net losses increased by 7% from the previous year to €173m.

Spotify's main expenses are royalties paid to artists.

It said its revenue from advertisements had nearly doubled while it user base had also grown significantly.

It had 89 million active monthly users by the end of 2015, 28 million of which were paying for subscriptions.

More competition

Spotify, long at the forefront of online music streaming, said it was prioritising investment, as it faces increasing competition.

Apple launched its own music streaming service in 2015, while Rhapsody and Deezer are two other companies offering a similar service.

As the industry leader, the firm has received a lot of criticism from artists who argue that the royalties they receive from streaming are not fair, and that streaming platforms fail to support new artists.

It has led to some big names like Taylor Swift, Adele and Radiohead keeping some or all of their music off the service.