In 2017, Ek was named the most powerful person in the music industry by Billboard. As of April 2019, Spotify has 217 million active users and as of June 2017 had raised over $2.5 billion in venture funding. In October 2015, Spotify co-founder Martin Lorentzon announced he would be stepping down as chairman and Ek would be taking over alongside his current role as CEO.

Initially, Spotify ran on a peer-to-peer distribution model, similar to μTorrent, but switched to a server-client model in 2014. In October 2008, the company launched its legal music streaming service Spotify. Lorentzon had previously worked at and co-founded TradeDoubler which had acquired Ek's previous company Advertigo. The only way to solve the problem was to create a service that was better than piracy and at the same time compensates the music industry – that gave us Spotify.' Įk incorporated Spotify AB with Martin Lorentzon in Stockholm, Sweden in 2006. Laws can definitely help, but it doesn't take away the problem. Ek said he 'realized that you can never legislate away from piracy. Ek first had the idea for Spotify in 2002 when peer-to-peer music service Napster shut down and another illegal site Kazaa took over. However, after a few months, he realized he wanted a new project, leading to his founding Spotify. The sale of Advertigo as well as his previous work made Ek wealthy enough that he decided to retire. Strigeus would later join Ek as a Spotify developer. This ended when μTorrent was sold to BitTorrent on December 7, 2006. After selling Advertigo, Ek briefly became the CEO of μTorrent, working with μTorrent founder Ludvig Strigeus. Advertigo was sold to TradeDoubler in 2006. Ek later started another company Advertigo, an online advertising company. Ek also served as the CTO of the browser-based game and fashion community Stardoll. Business career Career Įk served in a senior role at Nordic auction company Tradera which was acquired by eBay in 2006. He graduated from high school in IT-Gymnasiet in Sundbyberg in 2002, and subsequently studied engineering at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, before dropping out to focus on his IT career. Early life and education Įk grew up in the Rågsved district of Stockholm, Sweden. He is the co-founder and CEO of music streaming service Spotify. Daniel Ek (born 21 February 1983) is a Swedish billionaire entrepreneur and technologist.

Spotify ek