When I was in elementary school I ran 5ks and other races because my mom did. However, the only way I would do it was if I had my iPod Shuffle. The problem with the Shuffle was that I had to buy music and download it on to it. I think it cost $1.29 for each song, and when you are 7 years old that can really add up. Daniel Ek saw that problem and changed the music industry forever by creating Spotify in 2006. The problem initially was that Apple’s iTunes provided the music industry much more money with its pay-per-download model. Ek continued to push that over time the music service will generate substantial royalties while avoiding music piracy. In 2012, Spotify had 18 million songs and 20 million active users, though not all were paid subscribers. Only five years later the site has over 35 million songs with 160 million users where 70 million of them are monthly subscribers. The service has blown up and made music streaming the new norm.
This story is so interesting to me because it fixed a problem that was generally accepted and dealt with. Only after it was created did people really see the problem with downloading songs for so much money and piracy. It inspires me to look at the world around me and not always look for problems but ways to make generally accepted parts of life better for everyone around me. 
I remember I used to go searching through iTunes to find songs that I wanted and then I’d narrow down the list to my top favorites. $1.29 per song adds up, and my parents wouldn’t just let me download every song I wanted. Spotify was such a great idea and has continued to get better over the years! Even though it does cost a certain amount of money per month, depending on what plan you have, it is overall worth it for people who listen to a ton of music.
Spotify worked to solve a problem that did not seem prevalent at the time, but as soon as Spotify was released it was clear that this solution was much needed. Ek found the solution to an otherwise small problem and it really paid off especially since it is still very successful fourteen years later.
It really is crazy to think that at first we had to pay $1.29 per song on iTunes and how expensive it was compared to now just paying monthly for unlimited music. Spotify really changed how music is streamed and made it so much better for everyone.
People don’t understand how much Spotify has changed the way we live. Those of us who remember wasting money on song after song back in the day. Spotify allowed music to be so much more than it was capable of in the days of cds and $1.29 songs.
Ek significantly changed the music industry, thats undeniable. Whether this change was for the better or worse, no one can tell. For almost all of human history, if somebody wanted to hear music, they had to find someone who could play it on a live instrument. Sure, Ek didn’t create digital music sharing, but he surely made it extremely easy to access.