What is Spotify?FeaturesContactPressJobsResources

Background information

Hard facts

  • Founded: 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon
  • Location: Based in Europe with parent company in Luxemburg and headquarters in the UK and R&D in Stockholm
  • Goal: To help people to listen to whatever music they want, whenever they want, wherever they want.
  • Number of employees: 90
  • The name: A combination of spot and identify.

The music service

Spotify is an online music service offering users the ability to stream music on demand using Spotify’s unique technology. Spotify will be marketed both as a premium monthly subscription service and a version which is free for consumers to use, and supported by advertising. Consumers will also have the option to purchase a day pass that gives access to Spotify without advertising.

The business model

Spotify aggregate content from right holders, distribute it to consumers through our technical platform and monetise both through a free, ad funded service, and a subscription service.

Quotes from beta testers

The digital music service that works best for me is without a doubt Spotify – Andreas Kleerup, artist

I’ve seen the future! – Mattias Montero, director of photography

This is insane how brilliant it is! – Director of sales, global mobile operator

Just got a beta of Spotify. Amazing. This is where it’s going to go with music. Music will just be there. Whenever, whereever, whatever. No downloading necessary. Just listen. (And people will pay for this on a subscription basis – I think.) – Flo Heiss, Creative Partner at Dare

Spotify is the best music site ever. Once you start it’s impossible to stop, a goldmine of music right there in front of your eyes… – Adam Springfeldt, Creative Director, Acne Advertising

A problem of DRM is that it disables the social marketing engine for artists. I want to share music with my friends. I want to talk about it. But I can’t, because the song I bought is limited to 5 machines. Ultimately that model is counter productive for the artist, and this is why the Spotify model will rule the world – It’s a win-win deal between the audience AND the artist. – Johan Walter Naeslund, Digital Communications Strategist

It’s a tiny piece of software with an amazing speed and a vast library. I believe Spotify has the potential to reach a very big market and I really hope the record companies will realize this – Daniel Johansson, PhD Researcher in Computer Science at KTH

Everyday I become a bigger fan of Spotify. It is just great to have a seemingly bottomless collection of music to choose from. – Paul Lamere, Principal Investigator, Search Inside the Music, Sun Labs, Sun Microsystems Inc

Spotify is a fantastic innovation for everybody that loves music. Not only for consumers but also a whole world of inspiration for anybody that has music as a profession. I’ve been able to make a nostalgic trip back to my favorite period: The 80’s. But I’ve also discovered lots of new artists, genres and songs since Spotify also changes the way we are listening to music. – Bosson, Artist and Golden Globe nominated songwriter

Social networks and blogs

Read more about what the users think about Spotify at the Facebook group they created.

Also, take a look at the Spotify fan page on Facebook.

If you want to read about what the bloggers write about Spotify, take a look at Technorati and Google Blog Search.

Company history

Spotify was founded in April 2006 by serial entrepreneurs Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. The name Spotify is a combination the words spot and identify. Spotify helps you spot and identify the favorites you forgot about, or maybe didn’t even know you had. Our dream is to collect all the world’s music and make it accessible to everyone.

The founders

Serial entrepreneurs Daniel Ek (previous CTO at Stardoll, founder of Advertigo and Evertigo among others) and Martin Lorentzon (one of two co-founders of Tradedoubler, the largest European online affiliate advertising company).

About Spotify

Spotify is an online music service that allows users to stream music on demand through the use of our unique technology. Spotify will offer an ad-supported, free-to-the-user model and a pay for access premium model. There will be a range of promotional opportunities across the site, including editorial content such as artist biographies and reviews alongside additional revenue generating opportunities such as music downloads via links to recognized online retailers.

Statistics

Tens of billions of illegal files were swapped in 2007. The ratio of unlicensed tracks downloaded to legal tracks sold is about 20 to 1. Source: DMR2008-summary.pdf

Additional resources

Go to our press room to get press images and more information about the service.

Others on the future of music consumption