Coming from the Mind of a Depressed Adolescent: The Story of Spotify

Today, it is an unlimited platform accessible by millions of users, where they can find the music they want at their fingertips. This platform provides access to the music library; In addition to offering freedom and diversity to its users, it also revolutionized artists by giving them the opportunity to reach a wider audience.

Today, leaving many platforms behind, reaching the top SpotifyIt doesn’t look like he will give up his place to someone else easily!

So who is the founder of Spotify?

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1983, Daniel Ek grew up in an atmosphere where music was present since his childhood. Thanks to his opera singer grandmother and jazz pianist grandfather His interest in music began to take shape at a very young age. The fact that he started playing simple guitar melodies when he was only 4 years old was the first sign of his talent for music.

Daniel’s talent for music became evident when his music teacher discovered his talent during his primary school years. His childhood intertwined with music, It was like a preparation for the founding of Spotify and its revolution in the music world. But this revolution would be delayed a little.

Ek, who was introduced to software at the age of 14, began to build a career in this field.

Naturally, he took a break from his music career for a while. However, developing Spotify, which we hardly encounter anyone using today, was also a part of this career. Over time, after years spent in web design, at the age of 15, the monthly average Starting to earn $50,000 Daniel Ek was rising quickly in the entrepreneurial world. During this period, there was an attempt to apply to Google, but it was not received. “Apply again when you finish university” His answer made it necessary for his career to mature a little more.

Ek, who faced financial difficulties for a while, After the luxurious life he achieved at a young age He was dealing with deep depression.

He decided to make a change in himself and left everything behind and started living in a modest house outside the city.

Another founder of Spotify, with his efforts to find inner peace and recovery during this period. He also met Martin Lorentzon. These two shaped the idea of ​​Spotify, an indispensable part of our lives, during forest walks. It is also said that he was inspired by Napster, which was a popular music service at the time.

In fact, oddly enough, one of Spotify’s early investors was Spotify, a peer-to-peer file-sharing application focused on the distribution of digital audio files. Napster founder It was Sean Parker. He expressed his confidence in Ek, emphasizing that he is a patient and resilient personality. Finding investors for the application was perhaps the most difficult part, but they overcame it.

Ek’s determination and struggle laid the foundations of Spotify, which has become a worldwide music giant.

The app originated in Sweden in 2008 and quickly became a worldwide phenomenon. In the beginning just Platform serving in Sweden, quickly began to make a global impact. In fact, during this period, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was among Spotify’s first fans.

Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page in 2009, “Spotify is really good!” He expressed his appreciation for the platform by sharing a post like this.

It started its founding phase in 2006 but launched its service in 2008.

The name selection of the application was a result of chance. While they were considering possible names for their music streaming business, Even though Daniel accidentally heard the name “Spotify” this name later “Spot” and “Identify” It remained a combination of words. As the co-founder of Spotify, Martin Lorentzon has become one of the most important figures of the company.

Another key name, software developer Andreas Ehn, He played an important role in the company by establishing his own software team under the management of Daniel Ek. Andreas and his team have made a significant contribution to ensuring that songs can be found quickly on Spotify. However, in 2009 Andreas Ehn had to leave Spotify.

Another important name in the company was Per Sundin.

Between 2004-2008, Sundin, Sony and BMG He served as CEO of Sony BMG after the merger. In 2008, Sundin was appointed president and CEO of Universal Music Sweden. Initially, Per Sundin was opposed to Spotify’s free music policy. However, he later accepted that technology was evolving in this direction and pursued a common vision with the company. Later that year, Per Sundin became the first music company executive to partner with Spotify.

Another important name Petra Hansson is When the company experienced financial difficulties for a while, Hansson suggested premium membership to the company so that users could create their own music playlists, and this suggestion was accepted.

Spotify grew rapidly in popularity and joined the competition by signing contracts with major record labels to enter the US market.

Company; iTunes, Amazon Music, Pandora and Tidal He started competing with music applications such as. Expanding its platform, the application gradually removed the hours-long listening limitation for non-premium users. Topspin and Starbucks It started to make a name for itself in the field of advertising and marketing by establishing partnerships with.

By collaborating with social media platforms, it enabled its users to share their content. One of its successful features that allows users to discover new music through various lists is It became Discover Weekly. However, the different extensions currently available play an important role by improving and personalizing the user experience.

While Spotify had 1 million premium members in 2011, this number increased to 70 million as of 2018. With his 9% stake, Daniel Ek currently has a fortune of $2.5 billion. Today, it maintains its leadership among music streaming services with approximately 210 million subscribers and 527 million monthly active users.

There is also a short 6-episode Netflix series that tells the story of the company’s founding: The Playlist.

Our other content related to entrepreneurship: