Spotify, the company with 180 million users worldwide, 83 million of which are paying users, was co-founded by David Ek and Martin Lorentzon. David Ek started his first business at the age of 13 when he began creating websites for his clients from his home. To deal with increased business, Ek recruited his fellow classmates to work on the websites and used video games as compensation for their efforts. By the age of 18, Ek was making around $50,000 per month and managing a team of 25 people. Later in life, Ek was wealthy enough that he decided to retire. Shortly after retirement, Ek realized that money was meaningless if he didn’t have a project he was passionate about to work on. This realization eventually led to the creation of Spotify. After observing the failure of illegal music sharing site Napster, Ek realized that the solution was a music service that was better than piracy but also compensated the music industry. In October 2008, Ek along with Martin Lorentzon launched Spotify as a music streaming service. Now serving as CEO of Spotify, and worth around $2.8 billion, David Ek has been named as the most powerful person in the music industry.
Ek’s entrepreneurial spirit, even at the young age of 13, is truly inspiring. Having the tenacity to eventually earn $50,000 a month by the age of 18 shows that Ek is a highly driven individual with a passion for his areas of operation.
Wow, I love that even when he had enough money to live comfortably he wanted to jump back into the business world–and as a Spotify user, I’m grateful for it! He saved consumers so much money. Rather than paying $0.99 per song, people pay $10 a month for unlimited music! I remember going through my iTunes music wishing I could “return” some of the songs I bought because you get sick of listening to them after a while. Now iTunes had to copy Spotify and made their own music subscription service.
I have loved this service since the day I found it. The concept was so value-oriented and personal being able to chose and make your own playlists from millions of songs for only $10 a month. The fact that Ek started the service as a 13 year old blows my mind. I have even more respect for what Spotify was built upon now.
SO thankful for Daniel! I don’t know if I would be able to go back to work like he did after making enough to retire. Spotify is one of the only companies I willingly would pay more than I am now to support, and I would be lost without my playlists.
I find it super interesting that Ek discovered the idea for Spotify after seeing Napster fail. An entrepreneur is someone who sees problems and thinks of better ways to do things. Spotify has been extremely successful, not only is it a music streaming service but it also can be used as a form of social media uniting people around music. The idea of paying a subscription for unlimited music as opposed to paying per song is genius and benefits both users and musical artists. Entrepreneurs can learn from Ek by keeping their eyes open for improvement in anything they encounter. Great post, well written and thoughtful!