Daniel Ek Explained

Daniel Ek
Birth Date:21 February 1983[1]
Birth Name:Daniel Georg Ek
Birth Place:Stockholm, Sweden
Occupation:Businessman
Years Active:2006–present
CEO and co-founder of Spotify
Children:2
Signature:Daniel Ek signature, Billboard Open Letter 2016.png

Daniel Georg Ek (in Swedish pronounced as /ˈdɑ̂ːnɪɛl ˈjěːɔrj ěːk/; born 21 February 1983) is a Swedish businessman and technologist. He is the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of music streaming service Spotify.[2], his net worth was estimated at $4.8 billion by Forbes.[3]

Early life and education

Ek grew up in the Rågsved district of Stockholm, Sweden.[4] He graduated from high school in IT-Gymnasiet in Sundbyberg Municipality in 2002 and then studied engineering at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology for 8 weeks before dropping out to focus on his IT career.[5] [6]

Career

Early career

Ek had a senior role at Nordic auction company Tradera, which was acquired by eBay in 2006. He was also the CTO of the browser-based game and fashion community Stardoll and later started Advertigo, an online advertising company. Advertigo was sold to TradeDoubler in 2006,[7] after which Ek briefly became the CEO of μTorrent, working with μTorrent founder Ludvig Strigeus. He also hacked Google’s search algorithm in 2007 when he was working in Tradera, in order to force the Tradera site to show at the top of the Google search. He did this because he got rejected by Google. This ended when μTorrent was sold to BitTorrent on 7 December 2006. Strigeus would later join Ek as a Spotify developer.[8]

Spotify

The sale of Advertigo as well as his previous work made Ek wealthy enough that he decided to retire. However, after a few months, he realized he wanted a new project, leading to him founding Spotify.[9] 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. Ek said he "realized that you can never legislate away from piracy. Laws can definitely help, but it doesn't take away the problem. 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."[7]

Ek incorporated Spotify AB with Martin Lorentzon in Stockholm, Sweden in 2006.[10] Lorentzon had previously worked at and co-founded TradeDoubler, which acquired Ek's previous company Advertigo.[11] In October 2008, the company launched its legal music streaming service Spotify. Initially, Spotify ran on a peer-to-peer distribution model, similar to μTorrent, but switched to a server-client model in 2014.[12] In October 2015, Spotify co-founder Martin Lorentzon announced he would be stepping down as chairman and Ek would be taking over alongside his role as CEO.[13] As of April 2019, Spotify has 217 million active users[14] and as of June 2017 had raised over $2.5 billion in venture funding.[15]

In 2017, Ek was named the most powerful person in the music industry by Billboard.[16]

In May 2022, Ek invested an additional $50 million to acquire more Spotify shares, citing an optimistic future outlook for the streaming giant.[17] [18] Spotify at that time had 182 million paying subscribers and was growing at 15% year on year.

Political positions

In 2016, Ek and fellow Spotify co-founder Martin Lorentzon wrote an open letter on the blogging platform Medium to the Swedish government saying that if certain changes to Swedish law regarding housing, taxation, and education are not made, Spotify will be forced to relocate from the country.[19] More specifically, Ek claims that the high taxes in Sweden on stock options makes it difficult to incentivize programmers to work at startups when startups have trouble competing with larger companies on salary. Moreover, Ek claims the Swedish permitting policy is overly restrictive, limiting the supply of affordable housing.[20]

Personal life

In 2016, Ek married Sofia Levander, his longtime partner, at Lake Como. At Ek's wedding, Bruno Mars performed and Chris Rock officiated; he invited numerous guests, including Mark Zuckerberg.[21] Ek and his wife have two children together.

Ek is a lifelong supporter of Premier League club Arsenal, and, in April 2021, expressed an interest in purchasing the football club if it were put up for sale.[22] In May 2021, Ek made an offer to buy the club for approximately £1.8 billion, which was rejected by the owners.[23] [24]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Happy Birthday Daniel Ek!. Tech.Co. Will Schmidt. 21 February 2014. 3 September 2016. 20 June 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180620051027/https://tech.co/daniel-ek-birthday-2014-02. live.
  2. Web site: Spotify's Ek Wins Over Music Pirates With Labels' Approval. Bloomberg. Brendan Greeley. 14 July 2011. 3 September 2016. 24 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170224072205/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-14/spotify-wins-over-music-pirates-with-labels-approval-correct-.html/. live.
  3. Daniel Ek. Forbes. 12 December 2023.
  4. Web site: 10 November 2013. Is Daniel Ek, Spotify founder, going to save the music industry … or destroy it?. 5 February 2022. the Guardian. en. 10 March 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220310104001/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/10/daniel-ek-spotify-streaming-music. live.
  5. Web site: Spotify's Daniel Ek: The Most Important Man In Music . . 12 December 2017 . 30 May 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190530134347/https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2012/01/04/spotifys-daniel-ek-the-most-important-man-in-music/3/#c16c443218ed . live . .
  6. Web site: Daniel Ek . 17 July 2023 . Music Business Worldwide. 5 February 2021 .
  7. News: Daniel Ek profile: 'Spotify will be worth tens of billions' . 17 February 2010 . 6 December 2017 . Neate . Rupert . 4 June 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200604184756/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/7259509/Daniel-Ek-profile-Spotify-will-be-worth-tens-of-billions.html . live . .
  8. Web site: Spotify Reminded of uTorrent Past After Branding Grooveshark 'Pirates'. Torrent Freak. Andy. 12 November 2014. 3 September 2016. 21 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201121192609/https://torrentfreak.com/spotify-reminded-of-utorrent-past-after-branding-grooveshark-pirates-141112/. live.
  9. Web site: Daniel Ek's "impossible thinking" started at age 13 with a Web development mini-empire . 9 November 2012 . 6 December 2017 . 5 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201105022258/https://pando.com/2012/11/08/daniel-eks-impossible-thinking-started-at-age-13-with-a-web-development-mini-empire/ . dead . .
  10. Web site: Spotify Subscriptions Boost Revenue But Operating Loss Widens. Fortune. Reuters. 24 May 2016. 3 September 2016. 13 April 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190413044156/http://fortune.com/2016/05/24/spotify-revenue-up-operating-loss-widens/. live.
  11. Billboard Cover: Spotify CEO Daniel Ek on Taylor Swift, His 'Freemium' Business Model and Why He's Saving the Music Industry. Billboard. Robert Levine. 5 June 2015. 3 September 2016. 8 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201108113616/https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6590101/daniel-ek-spotify-ceo-streaming-feature-tidal-apple-record-labels-taylor-swift. live.
  12. Web site: Spotify gives up on P2P technology for music streaming. GigaOm. Janko Roettgers. 16 April 2014. 3 September 2016. 11 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201111200936/https://gigaom.com/2014/04/16/spotify-gives-up-on-p2p-technology-for-music-streaming/. dead.
  13. Web site: Spotify co-founder Martin Lorentzon steps down as chairman, CEO Daniel Ek steps up. Lunden. Ingrid. TechCrunch. 14 October 2016. 14 October 2016. 30 October 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201030003315/https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/14/spotify-co-founder-martin-lorentzon-steps-down-as-chairman-ceo-daniel-ek-steps-up/. live.
  14. Web site: Spotify Reports First Quarter 2019 Earnings. 29 April 2019. Spotify. en-US. 30 April 2019. 12 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201112034919/https://newsroom.spotify.com/2019-04-29/spotify-reports-first-quarter-2019-earnings/. live.
  15. Web site: Spotify now has 140 million active users . Micah Singleton . 15 June 2017 . 27 September 2017 . 11 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201111162114/https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/15/15807826/spotify-140-million-active-users . live .
  16. Web site: Spotify's Daniel Ek named most powerful person in the music business. music. Guardian. 10 February 2017. the Guardian. en. 29 March 2018. 11 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201111231836/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/feb/10/spotify-daniel-ek-most-powerful-person-music-business. live.
  17. Web site: Daniel Ek pumps $50 million into Spotify: 'I believe our best days are ahead' . 7 May 2022 . Daniel Ek pumps $50 million into Spotify: ‘I believe our best days are ahead’ TechCrunch News @ SendStory . en . 18 November 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221118142838/https://sendstory.co/news/daniel-ek-pumps-50-million . live .
  18. Web site: Today . Telangana . 7 May 2022 . Spotify CEO Daniel Ek pumps $50 mn into his music streaming platform . 7 May 2022 . Telangana Today . en-US . 7 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220507071301/https://telanganatoday.com/spotify-ceo-daniel-ek-pumps-50-mn-into-his-music-streaming-platform . live .
  19. Web site: "Sweden must change quickly": Spotify threatens to leave the country. Joon Ian. Wong. Quartz. 14 April 2016. 12 December 2017. 11 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201111221054/https://qz.com/661319/sweden-must-change-quickly-spotify-threatens-to-leave-the-country/. live.
  20. Web site: DANIEL EK. 7 December 2016. POLITICO. 12 December 2017. 13 August 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200813193032/https://www.politico.eu/list/politico-28-class-of-2017-ranking/daniel-ek/. live.
  21. Billboard Power 100's New No. 1: Spotify Streaming Pioneer Daniel Ek. Billboard. 27 May 2017. 31 October 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191031155600/https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/7685308/no-1-power-100-daniel-ek-spotify. live.
  22. eldsjal . 1385667437929062403 . As a kid growing up, I've cheered for @Arsenal as long as I can remember. If KSE would like to sell Arsenal I'd be happy to throw my hat in the ring..
  23. Web site: Daniel Ek claims his £1.8bn bid to buy Arsenal was rejected by owners Kroenke Sports & Entertainment. 15 May 2021. Sky Sports. en. 6 April 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220406110246/https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/12307501/spotify-co-founder-daniel-ek-claims-arsenal-have-turned-down-his-offer-to-buy-the-premier-league-club. live.
  24. Web site: 15 May 2021. Daniel Ek reveals Kroenke family have rejected his bid to buy Arsenal. 15 May 2021. the Guardian. en. 16 March 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220316202740/https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/may/15/daniel-ek-reveals-kroenke-family-rejected-bid-buy-arsenal. live.

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