that streaming music application that cannot be missing from any self-respecting smartphone, is already a classic in the digital sector. With more than, presence in 65 countries and more than 100 million paying users (as of August 2019), This giant took the step of going public in 2018, with the aim of improving its competitiveness against companies such as Apple and its service of iTunes,Pandora or the very Amazon Music.
But where does the popular green color app come from? In this post we will tell you more about the history of this streaming music giant today.
How Spotify was born
Spotify is of Swedish origin and was born from the union of the two passions of its creator, : computers and music. Daniel was so precocious that he founded his first company when he was only 14 years old: lhe came to hire his classmates from the Institute to work in the creation and web design.
At the age of 16, Ek tried to get a job for Google, but was turned down for not having a degree,yes he founded I warn, a successful online marketing company where he built a successful career. So much so that At the age of 23, in 2006, he sold Advertigo to the international giant tradedoubler. And that was a crucial step in the birth of his flagship project, since he convinced one of the founders of Tradedoubler, Martin Lorentzonalso Swedish, to make the necessary investment so that Spotify saw the light.
A name that we have already become accustomed to reading and listening to, and that, curiously, randomly generated in an exchange of words between Lorentzon and Ek as they searched for the name of the new creation. One of them understood Spotify, they liked it, and since it was not registeredthere they went to register it.
Thus, once the name was chosen, the engineers they started to develop the application, first only for computers, and the Spotify streaming music model was born. As a curiosity, among the developers was, for example, the creator of uTorrent, integrated shortly after in BitTorrent.
Spotify history: birth
Of course, despite the fact that Lorentzon and Ek they created Spotify in 2006, the negotiations with the record companies to obtain the licenses of the songs they delayed their start-up for more than two years publicly.
At its release on October 7, 2008, Spotify was conceived as an application to listen to music online on a computer.and was only available, in principle, for some European countries such as Sweden, Finland, Norway, , and Spain. Users could access millions of songs no need to download anything.
Of course, if you wanted to access the application for free they had to invite you but you had to hire a paid subscription. But, with the appearance of the iPhone and Android smartphones, Spotify understood that if they wanted to be someone they had to be in the users’ terminals, so in 2009 they created the mobile app so that users could take music with them on their smartphone. They also created the modality Premiumwhich they have maintained until today, along with the free and Unlimited.
Spotify history: arrival in the United States
Despite all the problems that American record companies put up to enter Spotify for the rights of the songs, in the end the majority understood that they had to be, and in 2011 the company landed in the United Statescompeting closely with iTunes, who for the time being
Spotify Story: Platform Conversion
Shortly after landing in the United States, the creator of Spotify announced in November 2011 the conversion of Spotify into a platform that could host third-party applications, Spotify Platform. As Daniel Ek explained, music went beyond music, and so magazines such as Rolling Stone were integrated into the platform with their own channel or applications to see the lyrics of the songs like TuneWiki. The idea was to take the user to explore music inside and out, and that Spotify was not just a song player.
Likewise, Spotify introduces in its platform the possibility that users They can see what your contacts are listening to and even share what they’re listening to with them.
Spotify Free removes the limit on listening hours
Although I haven’t mentioned it yet, Spotify users will remember that “tedious” limitation of 20 hours of music monthly that imposed in its free version. Yes, it was a… setback for those who did not want to go Premium, although Spotify’s goal with this measure was precisely that.
However, in 2014 the big news arrived, and The streaming music giant announced the definitive elimination of the 20-hour limit… but free? Well, just in exchange for sporadic publicity that you can’t skip, between some of the songs. It is the “price” that free users of Spotify now pay.
Also, in 2014, Spotify added a part of merchandising of its artists on its platform al , and a year later he was still betting on the user experience by joining Starbucks for .
The most social part of Spotify
With the evolution of the years, the platform has had to adapt to the momentum of the . In 2016 Spotify was , and shortly after, the streaming music platform reached a according to twitter so that they can
Parallel to all this, in the history of Spotify has also had a place to bet on photography, so that users can share photos and videos of the performances of their favorite artists, and also opted for the Likewise, Spotify ratified in 2016 the , which is based on weekly discoveries adapted to each type of user and generated according to their tastes musicals. Personalization to power.
Since then, Spotify denouncing every day the voices that advocate its fall, confronting new ones and questioning those who directly question its business model.
Spotify follows the great technological trends and the forefront in content
One of Spotify’s latest bets: this streaming giant continues and to enhance it, it acquired two companies dedicated to this line of business:
- Gimlet Mediaone of the largest international podcast producers, for an agreement that exceeded 200 million dollars (around 170 million euros).
- Anchora company that provides its podcast creators with tools to build, broadcast and monetize their programs.
This strategy, beyond meeting the great growth in user taste, will also allow you to develop a new channel for the consumption of its main business.
In addition, Spotify has not wanted to be left behind in terms of technological advances. Searches and interaction with devices through voice is a trend that has been wanted to integrate, and in May 2019 announced the launch of its
Initially, these types of ads are aimed at listeners of certain playlists or specific podcasts, and in them Users will be prompted to speak to interact with the ad content.
If the user does not respond or says something other than the voice command, the announcement will play until the end, and they will only be enabled for users who have activated voice control in Spotify.
What will be the next move of the queen of streaming music? We will be attentive to tell you about the new chapters in the history of Spotify.
Do you want to know more about the history of big names in marketing and eCommerce? How about you take a look at these other articles?
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