Origins
In the early 2000s, when music piracy was rampant via services such as Napster, Ek imagined a way for people to legally listen to copyrighted music as well as to share files and engage with others on a single platform. Ek had previously founded a start-up that had been acquired by the digital marketing company Tradedoubler in 2006. Tradedoubler had been cofounded by Lorentzon, and the acquisition brought the pair together. Ek shared his vision of a streaming service with Lorentzon, and in 2006 they founded Spotify. Two years later they launched the company.
The name Spotify came about by accident. Ek and Lorentzon were trying to think of a name for their venture when Ek misheard something Lorentzon said as “Spotify.”
Such platforms as Napster had popularized accessing and sharing music online. By the time Napster was shut down in 2001 after legal struggles, it was boasting more than 26.4 million verified users. Its success highlighted the demand for an application that would allow users to download and share music without infringing on copyright. Ek aimed to fill the gap left by Napster by acquiring copyright-restricted audio content from music labels and offering this content to users. The name Spotify came about by accident. Ek and Lorentzon were trying to think of a name for their venture when Ek misheard something Lorentzon said as “Spotify.”
Growth
Ek and Lorentzon arranged agreements with various music labels to allow their artists’ music to be accessed legally. Spotify’s service was offered using the “freemium” model, whereby users could access Spotify’s content for free but could not download it. The free model also included advertisement breaks between songs. Paid subscriptions, of which there were two versions, allowed users full access to content, the ability to download content for offline listening, and no ads.
Spotify initially launched in the United Kingdom in 2009. By March 2011 the company had gained 1 million paying subscribers across Europe; six months later it reported double that number. About that same time Spotify launched in the United States. Besides offering access to music tracks, the company introduced algorithms that enabled users to create custom playlists. By August 2012 Spotify had experienced significant growth, with 15 million active users, 4 million of them paying subscribers.
In 2015 Spotify began to emphasize the goal of becoming a major podcast provider. In 2017 the company purchased online music studio Soundtrap, which it adapted into a platform for podcast creators called Soundtrap for Storytellers in 2019. Having become massively popular, Spotify went public in April 2018. The following year the service acquired Gimlet Media and Parcast, both of which produced numerous popular podcasts, and Anchor, a service that helped podcasters profit from their work. In 2023 Spotify sold Soundtrap back to its founders, having chosen instead to expand its podcast catalog through its Spotify for Podcasters program. Moreover, the company combined Gimlet and Parcast into one entity, choosing to lay off 200 employees in the process.
By 2024 the company had more than 100 million music tracks, 5 million podcast titles, and more than 300,000 audiobooks in its catalog, and the service was being accessed by more than 600 million users and more than 230 million paying subscribers. Spotify’s reputation was further bolstered by partnerships with such entities as The New York Times, Samsung, Google, Amazon, and Sony as well as such social media platforms as Snapchat and Facebook.