Spotify hits 70 million subscribers

Spotify hit 70 million paid subscribers, the company announced Thursday. It's growing at a much faster rate than its competitors, primarily Apple Music. It's increased its user base by 50% since September 2016.

Why it matters: It's a piece of good news for the music streaming giant ahead of its direct listing IPO, which it filed for at the end of December. Spotify was hit with a major lawsuit around the same time for copyright infringement, which could pose risk to the direct listing, which Spotify hopes to post in Q1, Axios' Dan Primack reports.