Daniel Ek is one of the founders of Spotify, which is the leading music service and also features access to podcasts, and videos. It allows users to access songs, videos and more from all over the world. Using the basic functions, like streaming music, is free. There is an option to upgrade to Spotify Premium which costs $9.99 per month and includes personalized features where users can create their own radio stations, collections of music, and playlists. It is also available for use across different devices like phones, tablets, cars, and even TVs. It even has the ability to be integrated into social media and matchmaking apps like Facebook, Twitter, and Tinder so people can find friends and potential dates with similar music interests. They use the idea of “freemium,” where basic streaming services are free to the user with advertisements to offset the cost for Spotify. This way, users can listen to new songs without having to pay for each song. It saves the users money, and also saves space on devices because the music isn’t downloaded onto the device, it’s just streamed. It has big competitors, particularly Apple, but it still has over 100 million users and is continuing to grow. It uses many data collection techniques in order to release new products and keep users interested. Spotify has helped the world by creating a new way for people to access new music. In the past, music piracy was a pretty big issue. Spotify has helped decrease music piracy because it’s free and gives users access to top hits. It is a completely legal way for people to access music, and it in turn doesn’t hurt the music producers and singers who lose out on money when their music is pirated. With Spotify, they still get paid because of the occasional ads that play while the user is listening. Daniel Ek definitely was innovative when he created Spotify. He transformed the music streaming industry by benefiting both the users and producers.
I personally remember when Spotify first launched a couple of years back and many people were saying how its going to flop and never be successful. Fast forward a couple of years, and everyone I know uses Spotify on a regular basis. It’s crazy to think that a new method to consume music is all it took to completely uphend the behemoth of iTunes and change the game from purchasing music and illegally downloading it to paying a flat fee to have access to all the music you could ever need.
I also wrote a post about Ek. It really is fascinating how he innovated the music industry. It has gone so digital and he is one of the main reasons behind it. We now have so many artists at the tip of our fingers.
I use spotify all the time – so it’s neat to hear the story and learn about the founder. They really found the right formula.