daniel ek

The future of music, according to Spotify's Daniel Ek

AUSTIN, Texas--Daniel Ek was waving his arms in the air, as if molding invisible clay. He swiped his right hand karate-chop style, made a big loop, and then grabbed an imaginary dial with his left and twisted his fist.

Ek, you see, was talking about the future. In this not-so-far-off future, maybe a decade from now, we're all connected, everywhere, all the time -- perhaps via Google Glass, perhaps via sensors built into our clothes, or through other wearable computing devices. Our touch-screen life will require no touching whatsoever, as we control what we're listening to or seeing … Read more

Is Spotify gearing up to take on Netflix? Not soon

Spotify, the largest on-demand music service with 24 million active listeners, is in the early stages of exploring a possible video service, according a person close to the company. But CEO Daniel Ek says building a Netlix competitor is not something the company is gearing up to do anytime soon.

"I won't rule it out because we're a company that looks at what we're doing incredibly long term," Ek said in a recent interview with CNET. "But right now, we're all focused on music."

The idea of a Spotify video service came … Read more

Spotify's Daniel Ek: I don't worry about Apple, Google

AUSTIN, Texas -- Google is aiming to roll out two subscription music services this summer, and Apple is reportedly trying again to tackle the streaming business. But Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek says he's not concerned, because his company is laser-focused on music and music only.

"We're obviously watching what everybody is doing," said Ek, who wore a Gibson guitar T-shirt and was interviewed by Forbes Associate Editor Steve Bertoni at the SXSW Interactive conference. "Music is something that is so inherently important to people that it makes sense for gigantic companies to have … Read more

Spotify tops 1 million paid U.S. subscribers in one year

NEW YORK -- Spotify now has 5 million paid subscribers around the world, a number that includes 1 million U.S. customers, the company said today. It has 20 million active users worldwide, said CEO Daniel Ek.

At a press event here, Ek said that the company hit 1 million U.S. paid subscribers in a year when it took others a decade to accumulate that amount. That seemed like a thinly veiled shot at Rhapsody, one of the oldest music subscription services.

Among the news items from the event: Metallica announced that all its music is now available on Spotify.… Read more

Spotify press event lacks sizzle or substance

NEW YORK--Someone needs to remind Spotify that you need news at a news conference.

Spotify, one of the top music subscription services, announced today that Coca-Cola is launching an app on its music platform. Three Coca-Cola executives and Spotify CEO Daniel Ek tried to convince a gathering of about 30 members of the media that the partnership can offer Spotify users untold number of benefits and help extend the streaming-music service's brand.

By being everywhere that Coca-Cola is, which is just about everywhere, the agreement will spread Spotify's brand to new markets. What they didn't tell us … Read more

Spotify signs ad deals with McDonalds, AT&T and Coca-Cola

We now know something about Spotify's press conference scheduled for today in New York.

Spotify has signed new advertising deals with AT&T, McDonalds, Intel, and Reebok and a worldwide ad deal with Coca-Cola, CEO Daniel Ek said today at the AdAge Digital conference. The Verge reports that Spotify will create new "brand apps" that will live inside Spotify's desktop.

The news, which was first reported by All Things Digital, comes hours before a Spotify press conference scheduled for this afternoon.

There's a lot of attention on Spotify now. The worst thing the company … Read more

Spotify to unveil 'what's next' at press conference next week

Spotify today sent out invitations for a global press conference at the end of the month teasing "what's next" for the music streaming service.

The invitation was light on details, only saying that founder and CEO Daniel Ek and "a special guest or two" would be around to make an announcement. The conference is scheduled for November 30 at 9 a.m. PT.

Already a popular service in Europe, Spotify launched in the U.S. in July. It's unclear how successful its model has been so far and what the company plans to add … Read more

Don't expect Spotify in U.S. this holiday season

commentary Daniel Ek says he can't commit to a launch date for Spotify USA.

Too late. Ek, Spotify's founder and CEO, did commit. Maybe he forgot that he and his underlings have repeatedly said the launch of a U.S. version of Spotify, a popular European music service that offers free streaming songs in addition to a subscription offering, would open in the United States before the end of the year.

What Ek knows and isn't saying is that Spotify will miss that deadline, just as it has missed other launch dates.

As of last week, Spotify … Read more

Waiting for Spotify, act gazillion and one

For anyone following the attempts by European music service Spotify to launch in the United States, it should be plain that the company and supporters are trying hard to rally support among music aficionados.

All the headlines about Spotify have teased a potential American audience for months. The latest example came yesterday when the blog Music Ally reported that Spotify, which is attempting to obtain the music licenses and launch a U.S. service, has paid about 40 million euros, or the equivalent of $55 million, to music rights holders since launching there two years ago. The blog also wrote … Read more