Spotify has garnered 2 million registered users in India since its February launch, amidst a legal battle with Warner Music. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said growth in India has been faster than initially expected; its worth a reminder that two major music labels, Warner Music and Saregama, are absent from Spotify's library in India due to legal issues. Of the 2 million users, Spotify had gotten the first 1 million within a week of launch. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek agreed that minimum guarantees to record labels for launches in newer markets had impacted gross margins, although he declined to quantify the impact. He explained that Spotify initially loses money in every new market due to these minimum guarantees, but grows its way into MAU breakeven and starts earning profit thereon. "This is history repeating itself, .. as long as we are able to achieve the growth objectives we set for the business, and we have consistently, then the markets where we are growing the business become profitable." ARPU; working in low ARPU markets like India ARPU was roughly flat year-on-year at €4.71 this quarter; "the declines in ARPU are a result of shifts in both product and geographic mix. Approximately 75% of the impact to ARPU is attributable to product mix changes, and the remainder a function of changes in geographic mix and other factors." ARPU decline and India launch: Ek explained that the ARPU decline can be explained by price points in India and Asia are significantly lower than…
