When Daniel Ek founded Spotify in 2006, a viable musical product was a risky bet. The world music industry faced years of falling in sales, online musical piracy was rampant and services like Apple iTunes were expensive.
EK believed that if accessing music was as easy as opening a tap, legally and fairly for artists, users would go. The key was streaming, do not download them, an idea that revolutionized the industry and catapulted Spotify to a musical power of 140,000 million dollars.
The serial entrepreneur, who announced on Tuesday that he will leave the position of CEO of Spotify next year, is a look to build the next Spotify, although not in the music industry. EK wants to focus on technology that drives progress in the most important areas for society.
“They often ask me: ‘How do we build more spotifys outside of Europe?'” EK said in a note to Spotify employees on Tuesday. “That is why, several years ago I announced my intention to help create more of these supermpresses: companies that develop new technologies to address some of the greatest challenges of our time.”
EK promised to invest, through its premium venture capital firm, 1,000 million euros (1,180 million dollars) of its own assets in large -scale European projects: startups in the initial phase of deep technology, AI and climatic and health technology.
The multimillionaire motto is not only to invest, but to build long -term businesses, driven by its conviction that world leaders can be created in Europe.
“I will share more about how I will put part of my energy as a builder,” EK said in the letter, referring to his external commitments. “But today it is Spotify.”
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In 2018, EK co -founded Neko Health to help people stay healthy through preventive measures and early detection. The company raised 325 million dollars in total financing. EK also invested in the German Helsing, manufacturer of combat drones controlled by AI, which received more than 1,000 million dollars, becoming the largest defense startup in Europe, valued at 12,000 million. However, this investment generated criticism.
Musical groups such as Massive Attack, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and Hotline TNT withdrew their Spotify music in protest.
“Music and weapons are not a good combination,” said Simon Dyson, OMDIA analyst. With some renowned artists removing their music from the service, “protest sounds are beginning to become a distraction,” he added.
The company did not immediately respond to an email requesting comments.
EK already faced criticism, from salary disputes to artists to controversies around Spotify investments in Podcasts. His supporters attribute the creation of a legal model that moved the listeners of piracy, but critics point out Spotify’s enormous influence on artists, which has often translated into inequality for independent stamps.
Daniel EK, from programmer to revolutionary music industry
With 23 years, programmer, EK founded Spotify to combat online musical piracy with a legal alternative, something that even the big musical companies had difficulty addressing.
When I leave CEO next year to assume the executive presidency, he will yield the reins of a musical giant to his two trusted advisors, Gustav Sodetröm and Alex Norström.
EK, now 42 years old, grew in a suburb of Stockholm and worked in several startups before associating with co -founder Martin Lorentzon to found Spotify.
His proposal – a very funded by subscriptions and advertising – helped away piracy fans and joined record stamps, artists and advertisers in a single market.
Under the direction of EK, Spotify promoted three large levers that transformed the business: subscriptions with regulated prices, algorithmic reproduction lists that could generate successes overnight and a range of increasingly wide content, from podcasts to audiolibros.
EK’s legacy is visible in the habits of Spotify users: a monthly fee that millions consider a service, reproduction lists that serve as cultural guardians and podcasts that became a daily routine.
A Netflix miniseries, “The Playlist,” showed the birth and boom of Spotify in 2022.
Although EK plans to focus on the creation of other companies, it intends to continue involved in Spotify.
“I will be more involved than a typical American president, so they think about it how to move from a player to coach,” EK told the press on Tuesday.
With Reuters information
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