The streaming company has been quite open about gunning for growth over profits, but as USA Today points out, this may not be such a great idea in the long run. In 2017 alone, Spotify lost $1.5 billion, and the fact that the company is required to pay more and more compensation for the music doesn't bode well for it — or, for that matter, the future of streaming service business in general. After all, Spotify is the market leader and still fails to bring in the big bucks. Loup Ventures analyst Gene Munster has suggested that the entire business model might be flawed, and music subscription services are simply not profitable. "It's hard to see how they will make money," he says.