Deezer’s H1 2025: Strong growth and a world-first for AI
Image credit: Deezer
Deezer’s results for 2025’s first half is packed with promising news for artists & fans, revealing a world-first system for dealing with AI.
Music streaming platform Deezer have dropped their half-year financial results for 2025. The report proves that the French-based streaming giant’s strategy of balancing financial stability and user-focused innovation is paying off.
Deezer are on track to meet their financial goals for the year, with their second consecutive half year of positive adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation). Deezer’s EBITDA for H1 2025 is at €2 million.
The success is powered by strong growth in direct subscribers, particularly in their home market of France. Additionally, a host of new features and partnerships aimed at creating more value for everyone in the music ecosystem is showing positive results.
Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier commented: “We have successfully launched our new strategic plan, introducing a first wave of innovative features aimed at empowering our users, connecting them in more personal ways with their favorite music and artists. The success of this new strategy led to strong momentum in France, with steady subscriber growth.”
The Key Takeaways
For artists and labels, the financial health of a streaming platform is crucial. A stable DSP offers a reliable partner with which to release your music and reach listeners. Deezer’s H1 reveals their solid foundation, growth, and commitment to expansion for both users and artists.
Here are the financial highlights:
- Total Revenue: Deezer pulled in revenue of €267.1 million, marking a 1.3% increase at constant currency.
- Direct Subscribers on the Rise: The platform saw a significant boost in its direct subscriber base, particularly in France, which grew by an impressive +8.2% compared to last year. This shows that their core offering is resonating strongly with users.
- Partnership Revenue Shift: While partnership revenue saw an anticipated decline of -8.4%, this was part of a planned strategy to convert promotional users on partners like Mercado Libre into full-fledged premium subscribers with better margins.
- Profitability Confirmed: For the second half-year in a row, Deezer posted a positive Adjusted EBITDA, this time at €2.1 million. This is a massive €7.1 million improvement from H1 2024 and signals a successful turnaround towards sustainable profitability.
Beyond the Numbers: What’s new for artists and fans?
Beyond the balance sheet, Deezer are introducing some potentially game-changing features including world-first initiatives for a music streaming service.
World’s first AI tagging system
One of the biggest conversations in the music industry right now is AI. It exposes a great threat to musicians from multiple fronts; stealing copyrighted works to train AI models, taking revenues on streaming services, misdirecting listeners, and more.
In response, Deezer has launched the world’s first AI tagging system for music streaming. This system doesn’t aim to prevent the immense world of AI music from existing on its platform, but will instead make listeners aware of what music is AI produced on their platform.
Deezer revealed earlier in the year that nearly one-fifth – 18% – of the music uploaded daily to their platform is AI-generated. That represents around 20,000 AI tracks uploaded to Deezer daily.
To ensure both transparancy and the protection of artist remuneration, all tracks on Deezer that are fully generated by AI will be clearly tagged. This is a large step towards creating a fair environment where human creativity is valued and there are no blurred lines for fans.
However, many may still question the presence of AI content on one of the world’s largest streaming platforms regardless.
Artist-centric payouts and new business models
- Artist Centric Payment System (ACPS): Kicking off the year, Deezer partnered with French collection society SACEM to adopt the ACPS for publishing rights in France – a global first that aims to direct royalties more fairly to the artists that users actively stream.
- Deezer Business: Deezer has launched a new B2B service for companies to legally stream music in commercial spaces. Brands like Converse, Dunkin’ Donuts, and the leading French gym network Fitness Park have already signed on, creating a new and robus revenue stream from the platfom.
Enhanced Fan Experience
Deezer has also been busy improving its app for music lovers. They launched four new features giving users more control over the algorithm, personalized stats, and a universal sharing link to send tracks to friends on other streaming services.
They are also expanding their “Purple Door” live events, which offer fans unique, immersive experiences with their favourite artists.
Looking towards the future for Deezer
Deezer’s H1 2025 shows a company not just continuing its success but expanding into pioneering new areas. With initiatives like AI tagging and artist-centric payments, Deezer may well be winning over artist loyalty, solidifying themselves as a forward-thinking streaming platform.
Strong subscriber growth, innovative features, and a clear path to full-year profitability show Deezer’s growing place as a global music streaming champion. We’ll be keeping a close watch as their year progresses to see how they can capitalise on this growth and how users and artists react to their advancements.