Spotify has hit 60 million paying subscribers and is making a push into podcasts

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek

Spotify has hit 60 million paying subscribers, according to a new report from The Financial Times.

This would mean that the Swedish startup added a third of its paid users in the past 12 months alone, outpacing Apple (Apple Music has around 27 million paying subscribers).

This is good news for the company, which is reportedly aiming to file for an initial public offering (IPO) before the end of the year.

Spotify has spent the last year striking deals to pay lower royalties to music labels such as Universal Music and Sony Music. The third-largest player, Warner Music is still in talks but seems set to reach an agreement sooner rather than later.

And, according to a Bloomberg report, Spotify wants to expand its nascent podcast offering, too.

Spotify launched podcasts earlier this year, and is now planning to introduce three new shows. The move comes as the company is looking into new forms of media to keep users inside its app, as right now users listen to podcasts and watch videos predominantly inside Apple Music and YouTube, respectively.

Inside the app and via ads on buses, Spotify will promote "Reply All," "Pod Save America," and "The Bill Simmons Podcast," while in return the hosts will promote the music service during their shows.

"The potential for Spotify is to introduce this calibre of storytelling to a much larger audience, who are already in a listening mindset," Matt Lieber, co-founder and president of Gimlet Media, which produces "Reply All," told Bloomberg. "I see a growing effort to make podcasts more accessible on the platform. And they’re making progress."

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