100 Facts About Spotify

Spotify is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon.

Spotify is listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American depositary receipts.

Spotify offers digital copyright restricted recorded music and podcasts, including more than 82 million songs, from record labels and media companies.

Spotify is currently available in 180+ countries, as of October 2021.

Spotify is available in most of Europe, as well as the Americas and Oceania, with a total availability in 184 markets.

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Unlike physical or download sales, which pay artists a fixed price per song or album sold, Spotify pays royalties based on the number of artist streams as a proportion of total songs streamed.

Spotify was founded in 2006 in Stockholm, Sweden, by Daniel Ek, former CTO of Stardoll, and Martin Lorentzon, co-founder of Tradedoubler.

In February 2010, Spotify opened public registration for the free service tier in the United Kingdom.

Spotify launched in the United States in July 2011, and offered a six-month, ad-supported trial period, during which new users could listen to an unlimited amount of music for free.

In February 2017, Spotify announced expansion of its United States operations in Lower Manhattan, New York City, at 4 World Trade Center, adding approximately 1,000 new jobs and retaining 832 existing positions.

In March 2011, Spotify announced a customer base of 1 million paying subscribers across Europe, and by September 2011, the number of paying subscribers had doubled to two million.

Spotify went public on the stock market in April 2018 using a direct public offering rather than an initial public offering.

In June 2015, Spotify announced they had acquired Seed Scientific, a data science consulting firm and analytics company.

In November 2016, Spotify acquired Preact, a "cloud-based platform and service developed for companies that operate on subscription models which helps reduce churn and build up their subscriber numbers".

In March 2017, Spotify acquired Sonalytic, an audio detection startup, for an undisclosed amount of money.

Spotify stated that Sonalytic would be used to improve the company's personalized playlists, better match songs with compositions, and improve the company's publishing data system.

Later that month, Spotify acquired MightyTV, an app connected to television streaming services, including Netflix and HBO Go, that recommends content to users.

Spotify intended to use MightyTV to improve its advertising efforts on the free tier of service.

On 6 February 2019, Spotify acquired the podcast networks Gimlet Media and Anchor FM Inc, with the goal of establishing themselves as a leading figure in podcasting.

On 26 March 2019, Spotify announced they would acquire another podcast network, Parcast.

On 12 September 2019, Spotify acquired SoundBetter, a music production marketplace for people in the music industry to collaborate on projects, and distribute music tracks for licensing.

On 5 February 2020, Spotify announced its intent to acquire Bill Simmons' sports and pop culture blog and podcast network The Ringer for an undisclosed amount.

On 19 May 2020, Spotify acquired exclusive rights to stream the popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience beginning in September of that year, under an agreement valued at around US$100 million.

In November 2020, Spotify announced plans to acquire Megaphone from The Slate Group for.

In March 2021, Spotify acquired app developer Betty Labs and their live social audio app, Locker Room, Locker Room was rebranded in June 2021 as Spotify Greenroom, and turned into a Clubhouse competitor.

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In November 2021, Spotify acquired audiobook company Findaway, including its publishing imprint OrangeSky Audio.

In December 2021, Spotify acquired Whooshkaa, a podcast tech company that develops specialized technology that allows radio broadcasters to easily turn their existing audio content into on-demand podcast programming.

In June 2022, Spotify acquired Sonantic, a synthetic voice and video developer.

In July 2022, Spotify acquired Heardle, a Wordle-inspired music trivia game, for an undisclosed amount.

In October 2022, Spotify acquired the Dublin-based content moderation startup, Kinzen.

In March 2017, Spotify announced a partnership with the South by Southwest conference for 2017, presenting specific content in special playlists through an SXSW hub in Spotify's apps.

The WNYC Studios partnership brought various podcasts from WNYC to Spotify, including Note To Self, On the Media and Here's the Thing.

Spotify announced that the third season of WNYC Studios' 2 Dope Queens podcast would premiere with a two-week exclusivity period on the service on 21 March 2017.

In February 2018, Spotify integrated with the gaming-oriented voice chat service Discord on desktop clients, allowing users to display their currently playing song as a rich presence on their profile, and invite other users with Spotify Premium to group "listening parties".

In May 2020, Spotify teamed up with ESPN and Netflix to curate podcasts around their Michael Jordan documentary The Last Dance, and in September, Spotify signed a deal with Chernin Entertainment to produce movies and TV shows.

In 2022, Spotify became the official streaming partner of FC Barcelona.

Spotify released the first version of its Apple Watch app in November 2018, allowing playback control of the iPhone via the watch.

Two days later, Apple responded, stating that the claim was misleading rhetoric and that Spotify wanted benefits of a free app without being a free app.

Spotify responded with a statement calling Apple a monopolist and stated that they had only filed the complaint as Apple's actions hurt competition and consumers and clearly violated the law.

Additionally, Apple stated that they have attempted to work with Spotify to integrate the service better with Apple's products, such as Siri and Apple Watch.

On March 1,2021, Spotify confirmed that its platform would no longer have access to music from artists represented by Kakao Entertainment.

However, after talking it out and renewing the contracts between the two, Spotify later announced that they had reached an agreement with Kakao Entertainment, allowing their content to be available on the platform across the globe.

In November 2021, Spotify hid the "shuffle" button for albums following a request by singer Adele, arguing that tracks in albums are supposed to be played back in the order specified by the artist in order to "tell a story".

In May 2022, Spotify began testing a feature that would allow select artists to promote their NFTs via their profiles.

Spotify generates revenue by selling premium streaming subscriptions to users and advertising placements to third parties.

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Spotify gets its content from major record labels as well as independent artists and pays copyright holders royalties for streaming music.

Spotify offers an unlimited subscription package, close to the Open Music Model estimated economic equilibrium for the recording industry.

In March 2014, Spotify introduced a discounted Premium subscription tier for students in which students in the United States enrolled in a university pay half-price for a Premium subscription.

Spotify introduced a Family subscription in October 2014, which allows up to 5 family members to have a premium subscription.

In February 2021, Spotify announced their plans to introduce a HiFi subscription, to offer listening in high fidelity, lossless sound quality.

In October 2010, Wired reported that Spotify was making more money for labels in Sweden than any other retailer "online or off".

In May 2016, Spotify announced "Sponsored Playlists", a monetisation opportunity in which brands can specify the audiences they have in mind, with Spotify matching the marketer with suitable music in a playlist.

In February 2010, Spotify received a small investment from Founders Fund, where board member Sean Parker was recruited to assist Spotify in "winning the labels over in the world's largest music market".

In June 2011, Spotify secured $100 million of funding and planned to use this to support its US launch.

In January 2016, Spotify raised another $500 million through convertible bonds.

Spotify was, according to TechCrunch, planning to launch on the stock market in 2017, but in 2017 it was seen as planning on doing the IPO in 2018 in order to "build up a better balance sheet and work on shifting its business model to improve its margins".

In March 2009, Spotify began offering music downloads in the United Kingdom, France, and Spain.

Users could purchase tracks from Spotify, which partnered with 7digital to incorporate the feature.

In November 2015, Spotify introduced a "Fan Insights" panel in limited beta form, letting artists and managers access data on monthly listeners, geographical data, demographic information, music preferences and more.

Additional features include the ability to get "verified" status with a blue checkmark on an artist's profile, receiving artist support from Spotify, customising the profile page with photos and promoting a certain song as their "pick".

In September 2018, Spotify announced "Upload Beta", allowing artists to upload directly to the platform instead of going through a distributor or record label.

On 1 July 2019, Spotify deprecated the program and announced plans to stop accepting direct uploads by the end of that month and eventually remove all content uploaded in this manner.

In June 2017, Variety reported that Spotify would announce "Secret Genius", a new initiative aimed at highlighting songwriters and producers, and the effect those people have on the music industry and the artists' careers.

In October 2017, Spotify launched "Rise", a program aimed at promoting emerging artists.

In February 2020, Spotify announced it would be featuring new songwriter pages and 'written by' playlists.

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Spotify thereafter announced it was planning to add more of these pages and playlists to highlight songwriters.

In January 2021, Spotify made a selection of audiobooks available on the platform as a test of developing a greater breadth of content for users.

In 2020, Spotify partnered with Wizarding World to release a series of recorded readings of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, by various stars of the franchise.

On 31 January 2018, Spotify started testing a new Pandora-styled standalone app called Stations by Spotify for Australian Android users.

Spotify itself has two channels named after its playlists that link directly to the users' profile: "Release Radar" and "Discover Weekly".

Spotify announced the app would be shut down on 16 May 2022.

In May 2015, Spotify announced a new "Home" start-page that could recommend music.

In December 2015, Spotify debuted Spotify Wrapped, a program that creates playlists based on each user's most listened-to songs from the year.

In May 2017, Spotify introduced Spotify Codes for its mobile apps, a way for users to share specific artists, tracks, playlists or albums with other people.

In January 2019, Spotify introduced Car View for Android, allowing devices running Android to have a compact Now Playing screen when the device is connected to a car's Bluetooth.

Months later, Spotify tested its own version of stories known as "Storyline", and the focus is on allowing artists to share their own insights, inspiration, details about their creative process or other meanings behind the music.

In March 2021, Spotify announced an upcoming option for higher-resolution sound, Spotify Hi-Fi.

In July 2015, Spotify launched Discover Weekly, a playlist generated weekly.

In March 2016, Spotify launched six playlists branded as Fresh Finds, including the main playlist and Fire Emoji, Basement, Hiptronix, Six Strings, and Cyclone.

Spotify provides artists taking part in RADAR with resources and access to integrated marketing opportunities to help them boost their careers, in addition to expanded reach and exposure to 178 markets worldwide.

In September 2016, Spotify introduced Daily Mix, a series of playlists that mixes the user's favorite tracks with new, recommended songs.

In July 2018, Spotify introduced a beta feature that gives artists, labels, and teams an easy way to submit unreleased music directly to Spotify's editorial team for playlist consideration.

In June 2019, Spotify launched a custom playlist titled "Your Daily Drive" that closely replicates the drive time format of many traditional radio stations.

In July 2021, Spotify launched the "What's New" feed, a section that collects all new releases and episodes from artists and podcasts that the user follows.

In November 2021, Spotify launched the City and Local Pulse charts, aimed at representing the songs listened to in major cities around the world.

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Spotify has experimented with different limitations to users' listening on the Free service tier.

In January 2014, Spotify removed all time limits for Free users on all platforms, including on computers, which previously had a 10-hour monthly listening limit after a 6-month grace period.

Spotify is proprietary and uses digital rights management controls.

Originally Spotify had their own servers but in 2016 most of their infrastructure was migrated to Google cloud.

Spotify first announced a voice-activated music-streaming gadget for cars in May 2019.

Unlike physical sales or legal downloads, which pay artists a fixed amount per song or album sold, Spotify pays royalties based on their "market share": the number of streams for their songs as a proportion of total songs streamed on the service.

Spotify has been criticised by artists and producers including Thom Yorke and Taylor Swift, who have argued that Spotify does not fairly compensate musicians, and both withdrew their music from the service.

In 2017, as part of its efforts to renegotiate licence deals for an interest in going public, Spotify announced that artists would be able to make albums temporarily exclusive to paid subscribers if the albums are part of Universal Music Group or the Merlin Network.

In 2016, Spotify was criticized for allegedly making certain artists' music harder to find than others as these artists would release their music to the rival streaming service Apple Music before releasing it to Spotify.

In 2020, Spotify received criticism from anti-misinformation groups when conspiracy theorist Alex Jones appeared on Joe Rogan's podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience.

Spotify's employees raised concerns about Jones' appearance on the show.

In January 2022,270 scientists, physicians, professors, doctors, healthcare workers, veterinarians, a dentist, psychologists, physicians' assistants, medical students, an engineer and a podcast host wrote an open letter to Spotify expressing concern over "false and societally harmful assertions" on The Joe Rogan Experience and asked Spotify to "establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform".

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, who signed a multi-year partnership with Spotify, said that since April 2021 they had been "expressing concerns" over COVID-19 misinformation on the platform.

Spotify promised to add content advisories for anything containing discussions related to COVID-19 and posted additional rules.

In February 2022, Spotify removed about 70 more episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience, reportedly at Rogan's own request.