Tag: Gustav Soderstrom

Investor Day 2026 Remarks From Spotify Co-CEOs Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström

May 21, 2026

Opening remarks

ALEX

Good morning everyone, I’m Alex [Norström].

GUSTAV

And I’m Gustav [Söderström].

ALEX

Whether you’ve been following our journey since the beginning or are taking a fresh look today, thank you for joining us. Today is our opportunity to share with you why we are so excited about value creation for Spotify.

Spotify is in the business of delivering creativity and culture to the world: helping artists, creators, and authors connect with audiences, and grow their careers. Gustav and I have been with Spotify since the early days. I’ve got the haircut to show for it.

Not sure if you are aware, but Spotify turns 20 this year. This marks our third Investor Day, and we’ve seen the company through many chapters. And we can say with confidence that the opportunity ahead has never been greater.

Let us tell you about where we are today:

GUSTAV

We are in 184 markets, with 761 million active users. Nearly 300 million are subscribers. This massive group of paying, passionate fans is not only double the size of any other music service, but also much more engaged than any other music service.

ALEX

That’s why almost two-thirds of all Premium music streams happen on Spotify, far more than our subscriber base alone would suggest!

GUSTAV

The majority of these subscribers come back over 25 days a month, with over 100 million of them spending more than 28 days a month with us. That’s 100 million people, with basically 100% DAU over MAU!

ALEX

That also means 3.5% of the world subscribes to Spotify. Giving us more than 96% of the world left to win over.

GUSTAV

There have been more than 10 billion playlists created, and our global user base now generates 3.4 trillion events and taste signals every day across all of our verticals and surfaces. Up 43% since just the top of the year.

ALEX

And Spotify is also one of the world’s largest music communities, with nearly 500 million people subscribing to someone else’s playlist, over 45 million people enjoying collaborative playlists each month, and almost 50 million people listening together in real-time using Jam.

GUSTAV

But Spotify is also more than music today. Over 500 million users have streamed a video podcast on Spotify, up nearly 50% year over year.

ALEX

And, in just a couple of years, we’ve already captured roughly 20% of the audiobooks market in the U.S.

Today, you’re going to hear much more from members of our team about where we’ve been and where we’re going. As most of you know, Spotify was born during the piracy era, when the music industry was in free fall. From day one, we set out to solve problems that others thought were unsolvable. This mindset has defined everything since.

So before we look ahead: Gustav, why don’t you take everyone back a bit?

GUSTAV

So—let’s go back to 2018, our first Investor Day. The big question that many were asking was, “Okay, so Spotify was right about access versus downloads. But in a world of competitors with walled gardens and massive distribution advantages, how can you possibly win?”

Our answer was counterpositioning, built on three ideas:

First, Freemium. We focused on maximizing reach while lowering the barrier to entry and building engagement. Second, ubiquity. Rather than building a walled garden, we chose to be everywhere—across devices and ecosystems. Third, personalization. We invested early in machine learning as the driver of retention. That’s pretty obvious in the age of AI, but it wasn’t back in 2013.

But of course, investors wanted to understand, “How do you win in a category where everyone licenses the same catalog?”

Our solution was that we would use Freemium to build global scale, and then we would win by out-innovating on the product itself. We didn’t rely on one or two differentiated features. We built a platform that continuously turns user behavior into new products, experiences, and ways to create value. Spotify became the R&D department of the music industry, where new offerings are tested at scale and adopted across the ecosystem.

So when we met again for our next Investor Day in 2022, four years later, we had delivered on that strategy—and more. The new question many asked was, “Spotify is now a great product, but will it ever truly be a great business with solid margins. And can you expand beyond music?”

Our answer to this question was the Spotify Machine.

The idea was to take all the capabilities we built and extend them into new verticals creating a new business model. Combining music, podcasts, and audiobooks, together into one unified experience.

ALEX

So let’s take a look at what we’ve delivered since 2022.

Let’s start with users. We’ve added nearly 340 million people. The pace of this progress puts us well on the path to 1 billion users. We grew our subscriber base by over 110 million to reach 293 million subs. This makes Spotify one of the largest subscription businesses in the world.

In revenue, we hit a currency neutral CAGR of 18%, reaching €17 billion in 2025. That almost reaches the long-term target we set. And we achieved a 32% gross margin in 2025, up from 25% in 2022—beating our 30% goal. We shifted operating margin over 18 percentage points, from around negative 6% to a positive of almost 13% in ‘25. And importantly, this has flowed through to cash. Free cash flow went from close to zero in 2022 to nearly 3 billion euros in 2025.

We’ve got a scaled, profitable business with a large and growing audience, and multiple engines of growth. The Spotify you see today is very different from the one you saw four years ago.

So how did we achieve this, while continuing to grow users, subscribers, and revenue at a high rate? First, we renewed our contracts with rightsholders in the music industry. We did this twice to make our music business model more sustainable. Second, we grew our marketplace business at a much higher velocity, which contributed to improving our gross margin. And third, we reimagined our ads and podcasting businesses. While these were hard pivots, they are putting us in a much better position long-term.

We then licensed one of the most compelling catalogs of audiobooks and added it to Spotify Premium in over 20 markets. Next, we launched global improvements to Spotify Free—making it even more competitive as a growth driver. And finally, we redesigned and reduced our org size to match our roadmaps, which resulted in operating leverage. There are countless other wins we’re not covering, but the progress is evident.

GUSTAV

Alright, so let’s jump into what you’re asking in 2026. The first is, “You’re a real business now. But is this it? Is it mostly just incremental growth from here on?”

Our answer? Absolutely not. You will hear much more throughout the day, but here are two key takeaways:

Spotify is not a single-product company and our next chapter is not just about scaling the verticals we already have. It’s about continuing to improve our current monetization while opening up new ways to monetize. Second, Spotify’s opportunity to grow goes well beyond pricing. There’s no such thing as an “average” user. Engagement and willingness to pay follow a power law and we see a clear opportunity to capture more value from our most engaged users.

The second question we’re hearing is: “What does AI mean for Spotify? Is it a tailwind or a headwind?”

Guess what? It’s a tailwind. Our view on AI is both straightforward—and somewhat contrarian to what some in the Valley will tell you. We do not believe the advantage for us comes from owning our own general reasoning frontier model—what is called an LLM. Instead we believe that general domain reasoning—like coding and math—will stay widely available. Especially given the massive investment and intense competition. Instead, our bet is that buying this capability on the open market will continue to be the most cost efficient strategy.

The advantage comes from applying general intelligence to something that’s proprietary, dynamic, and deeply personal. It essentially comes down to the unique data and context that only Spotify has about users—what is often called taste. It’s continuously refreshed, grounded in real behavior, and very hard to replicate. So rather than training general Large Language Models we are training what we call our Large Taste Model. We have also referred to this as our Large Personalization Model in the past.

This strategy lets us retain significant advantages and still benefit instantly from any frontier advances and the very aggressive price-performance-cost-curve we are seeing. We will cover this in more detail later today.

ALEX

At Spotify, we don’t capture people’s attention with empty calories. We do it by delivering an experience that people truly value. And they stay because the product earns its place in their day, every day. After nearly two decades, we understand that growth is driven by engagement and retention.

Today, most large platforms compete for time on app: minutes per day, hours per session. Spotify performs well on that dimension. From 2021 to 2025, streaming hours per subscriber increased globally by 10%. But we have never believed that all time is created equal. This is where Spotify breaks from much of the consumer internet. We are not trying to spark a binge. We are trying to become a trusted companion across more moments in people’s lives.

So we measure value not only by how long people listen, but by how often they choose to return: days in a month, not just minutes in a session. That distinction matters. Spotify fits into the morning commute, the study session, the workout, the dinner prep, the evening wind-down and the story before bed. And importantly, a growing number of those moments are spent with Spotify around the world.

People listen across every device—their iPhone, Garmin watch, Tesla, Roku, and PS5 just to name a few. In fact, the number of times you come back to us in a month and the number of devices you use might be among the most important metrics we monitor. This is how we think about engagement on Spotify.

The other key unlock to our effectiveness is our verticals. Music came first and remains the core of Spotify. Layering podcasts on top adds more days of engagement. And most recently, we’ve introduced hundreds of millions of people to audiobooks. And the result has created our most active and well retained group of all.

Those who use all three verticals—music, podcasts, and audiobooks—are engaging with Spotify almost everyday of the month. We have improved all three dimensions—use cases, devices, and verticals. And we’ve done it consistently over the last five years.

This is exactly the type of engagement and retention that drives the growth of Spotify, and we are not stopping there. We recently introduced fitness, which we believe has the potential to become a meaningful vertical in its own right. And we have our eye on several more.

Even our pricing is a retention story. We’ve raised prices multiple times with minimal churn because users see the value and stick around. What you’ll see today builds on that trajectory, continuing the Spotify growth story.

So what does all this mean for our goals through 2030? Here is what we expect to deliver: a mid-teens revenue CAGR, a gross margin of 35 to 40%, an operating margin above 20%, strong growth in free cash flow. And we also remain committed to our north stars: one billion subscribers, one hundred billion in revenue, and over 40% in gross margin.

Now, let me give you more insight into our approach to capital allocation. We will keep a strong balance sheet. This provides us with the flexibility to execute and reinvest in our strategy. We will also continue to explore inorganic investments like we always have that will strengthen our existing businesses and accelerate our strategy. We will keep countering dilution from stock-based compensation through share repurchases. We will also continue to see strong cash flow generation, and even with these efforts, we plan to start returning excess capital to our shareholders. Christian will elaborate more on these plans.

We think this is an exciting outlook. Now, I want to take you into how we plan to achieve these goals. We are betting on four big ideas.

The first is that the world operates as a power law. And for Spotify, that opens up significant monetization. Let me unpack what that means. In the industry, we often talk about averages, but as we said before, there is no such thing as an “average user.” It’s just a way to represent very different underlying usage and willingness to pay. This is our demand curve.

So far, Spotify has focused on capturing two sections of that curve. With our scaled Free tier, we can capture and monetize the very very long tail of people using Spotify—supported by ads. This is what gives us a massive universal TAM. Next, our paid tiers meet the demand with a range of options, such as our $6.99 Student plan and $12.99 individual Premium plan. That means today, we have almost 300 million people on what is one of the world’s largest subscription platforms. We have expanded this premium segment both up and down by making our plans more affordable, with Family, Duo, Student, and others. And also by raising price as we’ve added more features and offerings into Premium with minimal churn.

But there are lots of people in Premium who are prepared to spend even more based on their incredible usage. For some time, we’ve been talking about add-ons that would let us capture the full head of that curve. We all thought that music—our biggest vertical—would be first out the gate. But it turns out that it was our newest vertical, audiobooks, that got there first.

Let me tell you about Audiobooks+. As Audiobooks in Premium rolled out across our first 22 markets, we saw listening grow significantly. But what stood out was a group of highly engaged users consistently hitting their monthly listening limits. That was a clear signal of unmet demand. So we introduced Audiobooks+, allowing those users to extend their listening by purchasing an add-on for additional hours. And the response has been strong. In less than a year, more than one million users are already paying for Audiobooks+ on top of their Spotify subscription.

Even more importantly, these are very valuable users. These subscribers have lifetime values that are multiples of Premium-only users. They spend far more, and they stay much longer. And we see this power law of usage across all of our verticals, creating significant potential. In many industries, this type of demand curve typically gets divided between different players. We are one of the few companies in the world that has the business models and skills needed to cover the entire demand curve.

So from the outside, Spotify has always looked like a simple two-step funnel: Free and Premium. Large in size with a massive TAM, but ultimately capped in ARPU. But what we are outlining today is actually a platform for a diverse set of higher ARPU products. Each with smaller individual TAMs, but much higher ARPUs. And thanks to our scale, this represents many millions of users, and a tremendous upside.

This is just the beginning of our next monetization chapter. Today, Charlie will show that music fans will be able to interact with their favorite music in entirely new ways. Something we know that you’ve all been waiting for. And as Roman and Maya will explain, we will allow users to create truly Personal Podcasts for the first time in addition to unlocking creator Membership add ons. And finally, Owen will talk to you about what is next for audiobooks, which I won’t spoil. But it turns out that even Audiobooks+ didn’t satisfy the full demand curve of our user base. Book lovers are asking for Audiobooks++ and +++.

Across all of these use cases, the opportunity is consistent. We will give our most engaged users the ability to pay for more, so that they can use more, control more and access more.

GUSTAV

This brings us to the second big idea we’re doubling down on—Spotify is moving from single player and passive to multiplayer and interactive. When our users adopt new behaviors, even before the product fully supports them, we pay attention. That signal is one of our most valuable advantages.

We see what people do, what they choose, what they share, and even what they say to Spotify in natural language. So years ago, we saw something interesting in how our playlists were used. One person would start a playlist, their friends would text back and forth to add songs, and then the original creator could share it with the group. At the time, Spotify wasn’t designed for collaboration, but the signal was clear: people didn’t just want to listen, they wanted to listen together.

So we added on-platform messaging and created the shareable playlist. Now it’s everywhere with more than half a billion people subscribing to someone else’s playlist. And then we went all in on these network effects, introducing Jam—a way for users to listen with their friends and family in real time. With nearly 50 million people jamming together, we are seeing even more engaged users. Collaborative Playlists are another popular Spotify invention, which turned playlisting into something groups build, share, and revisit. With almost 50 million people streaming from a collaborative playlist, we’ve made music something you do together. All of this results in a simple fact—you need to be on Spotify.

Our experience is not about amassing followers or meeting strangers. It is about real-life connection and hanging out with your people.

GUSTAV

The next big idea centers on AI. The world is moving to generation, where our users are in control and our goal is to give them exactly that. Spotify launched in the era of curation, where the world’s music was organized by our passionate users into tens of billions of playlists, building one of the richest collections of human taste signals ever assembled.

Next came recommendation, powered by algorithms and machine learning. We turned those billions of curation signals into features like Discover Weekly, Release Radar, and personalized surfaces that made discovery effortless for hundreds of millions of people.

Now we’re entering the era of generation, where the experience isn’t just selected from a catalog. It’s shaped by each of our users, in real time, around their taste, context, and intent.

For example, with generative AI—for the first time in history—it’s now possible to create and consume truly personal media—individual media. A podcast that was made for an audience of just you or at most—you and a friend. When you ask Spotify to “give me the news” we will deliver a daily brief built around your interests, your inbox, your calendar, even the presentation you have later that day. But this media obviously needs a trusted, private space, not a public feed. So we’ve built exactly that!

We’re already seeing people take advantage of this with tools like Save to Spotify, where you can use your agent like Claude Code, OpenClaw, or Codex to create individualized content. Like a narrated travel plan for your trip to Barcelona or dive deeper into a subject like the Token Economy based on what you’ve shared with your agent, like notes, articles, files, and more.

Today, there is no media player for both public and private content—or put differently—there is no media player for the generative era. We believe Spotify will become that.

Another way of thinking about this generative era is that “computers finally understand English!” This puts infinite creativity and control in the user’s hands. For example, Prompted Playlists. Where you can ask it to create a playlist using your listening history. Or to create one around who won Best New Artist. A fan favorite? “Make me a playlist with main character energy and send it to me every Monday morning to get me pumped up and confident for the week.” And if you want to shape Spotify more broadly, Taste Profile lets you tell Spotify who you are, and even who you aspire to be. No one else offers this level of control. Spotify truly becomes your media service.

ALEX

And that brings us to our fourth big idea: Time Well Spent. The most precious commodity we each possess is our own time. Yet across much of the internet, too many platforms treat time as something to be captured not respected. Feeds keep you endlessly scrolling, often leaving you feeling regretful and empty.

We believe there is another path. We enable experiences that generate love and bring joy, inspiration, and insights. So that the time you spend with us doesn’t deplete you, it energizes you. We actively measure not just time spent, but how much of that time users consider valuable versus regrettable. And Spotify consistently ranks among the most valuable time that people spend online. In our surveys, users report feeling good almost 90% of the time they spend on Spotify.

That stands in sharp contrast to broader industry patterns, where users, especially younger ones, report actually regretting up to 40% of the time they spend on other platforms. And in some cases, they regret closer to 70% of their time.

This is what makes Spotify different. We are not maximizing engagement at any cost. We are building for something more satisfying and importantly, more durable. And this is not just good for users—it is good for business too. Because it turns out that all time is not created equal, and people are willing to pay for time that they value.

And with that, let me invite another Gustav—I’m living in a world of Gustavs—Gustav Gyllenhammar, to show you how this translates into subscriber growth around the world.

Closing remarks

ALEX

Okay, so this brings us to the close of our presentation. Hopefully, after today’s update, you have a clear picture of Spotify’s future.

The scale we’ve built unlocks vast opportunities for value creation. The world is moving in our direction, towards more personalized experiences, more interactivity, and more control. And these are areas where we know we can lead—because living in the future has been part of our DNA for a long time. Never getting comfortable. Looking to see where technology, behavior, and culture are heading before it becomes obvious to everyone else.

That instinct has shaped some of our biggest decisions over the years and enabled us to define and build for what comes next. What matters most in this next chapter—taste, trust, and culture—has always mattered to Spotify. It’s why we exist. It’s where we succeed. And it’s what we will continue building for.

GUSTAV

That’s what has helped us build lasting differentiation, increase our engagement, and evolve the business over time to not only meet, but exceed, the expectations of our hundreds of millions of users.

We started with access, moved to personalization, and now generation. Each transition has expanded what Spotify can become. And every time, our advantage has continued to compound.

Because the generative era rewards scale, data, and deep user understanding more than any era before it. What excites us most about this journey, isn’t any single feature. It’s the entire foundation underneath it all.

We’re proud of what we’ve built. But we’re even more excited about the next twenty years. And we will continue to raise our ambitions. Thank you.

Explore all the news and announcements from Spotify’s 2026 Investor Day.

Forward-looking statements:

We would like to caution you that certain of the above statements represent “forward-looking statements” as defined in Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The words “will,” “expect,” “believe,” and similar words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those relating to projections or estimates about the future performance of our company. Such forward-looking statements involve significant risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or projections, including our ability to attract prospective users, retain existing users, and monetize our products and services; competition for users, their time, and advertisers; risks associated with our international operations and our ability to manage our growth and the scope and complexity of our business; risks relating to our use of artificial intelligence; and other risks as set forth in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date hereof.

Non-IFRS financial measures:

The discussion above includes non-IFRS financial measures that should not be construed as alternatives to financial measures determined in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS. See the appendix to our Investor Day presentation available on our website for a reconciliation of these non-IFRS financial measures to the most closely comparable IFRS measures.

What’s Next for Spotify and NAVER in Korea After a Stockholm Summit

March 25, 2026

Spotify’s partnership with NAVER, Korea’s leading digital platform, is built around one simple goal: making it easier for listeners in Korea to discover and enjoy audio across the apps they already use. This week, our co-CEOs Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström welcomed NAVER CEO Sooyeon Choi to Spotify’s Stockholm headquarters to align on the next phase.

The meeting was a chance to review early progress, exchange perspectives on our respective platforms, and set shared priorities.

“Korea plays a defining role in global music culture, and Spotify sees it as a market where local creativity and global connection intersect powerfully,” said Alex. “Our partnership with NAVER reflects our belief that the most meaningful growth comes from combining global reach with strong local ecosystems.”

Since launching the partnership in November 2025, we’ve brought Spotify into more places across NAVER’s ecosystem, including Maps, Search, and NAVER+ Membership. More recently, we completed the rollout of NAVER single sign-on (SSO) integration, making it easier for users in Korea to access Spotify.

“This meeting reinforced the strong foundation we are building with Spotify and the long-term potential of our partnership in Korea,” said Sooyeon. “By bringing together our respective platforms and capabilities, we are focused on deepening this collaboration for users in Korea to discover and experience music and audio content.”

During the visit, teams from both companies also met to dig into how our platforms connect and where we can work more closely next.

“Strong partnerships are built not just on shared ambition, but on how platforms connect and evolve together,” said Gustav. “This meeting was about leadership alignment, getting clear on priorities, and how our platforms and teams can continue working together in a thoughtful, long-term way.”

Spotify Kicks Off Our 20th Anniversary at SXSW With a Celebration of Artists, Creators, and Fans

March 3, 2026

In 2006, Spotify was founded on the belief that technology could bring artists and fans closer together, providing a safe, legal, and user-friendly alternative to the rampant piracy threatening the music industry. From the beginning, we set out to make it easier to access and discover music in ways that worked for everyone. Two decades later, that belief still guides us, with discovery and shared listening at the heart of what we do.

This March, we’ll mark the start of our 20th anniversary celebrations at SXSW in Austin.

SXSW holds special significance for Spotify. Our co-founder Daniel Ek first delivered a keynote in 2010, and gave festival attendees a sneak peek of our platform’s revolutionary capabilities before it launched in the U.S. in 2011.

Over the years, we’ve seen how SXSW can spark moments that move music, technology, and creativity forward. It’s a fitting place to kick off celebrations for Spotify 20—at a festival long known as a proving ground for new artists, fresh ideas, and creative connection.

One stage, two decades of sound

We’re kicking things off at Stubb’s on Saturday, March 14, with Spotify 20: Live at Stubb’s, an official SXSW concert open to platinum and music badgeholders. In a year where we’re celebrating where we’ve been and where we’re headed, the lineup pairs artists who have shaped the last two decades of music with those defining what comes next.

Performers include:

- Alanis Morissette — The seven-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter behind Jagged Little Pill, one of the best-selling and most culturally defining albums of the ’90s. Three decades in and with more than 8.6 million monthly Spotify listeners, her music continues to resonate with fans across generations with hits like “You Oughta Know,” “Thank U,” and “Ironic.” The latter has over 600 million streams and is her most-streamed track on Spotify.
- Ella Langley — One of country music’s fastest-rising stars. With more than 20 million monthly listeners, Ella currently has one of the biggest songs in the world with “Choosin’ Texas.” Since its release in October 2025, the song has racked up more than 168 million streams. It’s the first song by a female artist to reach No. 1 on the Hot 100 (2nd Week), Hot Country Songs, and Country Airplay simultaneously. Her second album, Dandelion, arrives in April.
- St. Vincent (DJ set) — Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, is one of the most consistently intriguing presences in modern music, with more than 10 million monthly streams on Spotify. Her most recent album, the self-produced All Born Screaming, recently earned her three Grammy Awards, bringing her career total to six. St. Vincent’s live performances have run the gamut from the full-on rock intensity of the All Born Screaming shows to an upcoming tour of orchestral reinterpretations. At Stubb’s, she’ll be manning the decks for a rare DJ set.

Looking back while looking ahead

On Friday, March 13, Spotify co-CEO Gustav Söderström, country superstar Lainey Wilson, and podcast host David Friedberg will take the stage for a conversation on building for the long run. Two decades of music, podcasts, technology, and creative evolution; one session on what the future holds for music, podcasts, and Spotify.

Discovery across the festival

Throughout the week, Spotify will host events that bring together artists, creators, partners, and industry voices to look at the culture of music discovery and the future of listening. Highlights include:

- A conversation between Spotify Chief Public Affairs Officer Dustee Jenkins and Nick Jonas about staying power in music, culture, and life. With Nick in town to launch Power Ballad, his film about ambition, friendship, and the complicated cost of a hit song, the two will reflect on his journey from early fame to reinvention, and the milestones that shaped him. They’ll explore evolution, creative risk, and what it really takes to build something that lasts—a fitting way to begin celebrating 20 years of listening back and looking ahead.
- Brands and creator dialogues on shared listening culture.
- A Spotify for Artists Masterclass with practical tools for navigating today’s industry.
- A Heart & Soul wellness space within the SXSW Artist Lounge, in partnership with Backline, offering artists and managers space to recharge and support their mental wellbeing during a busy week of performances and meetings.

Across music, advertising, podcasting, partnerships, and product, we’ll be on the ground reflecting the full ecosystem of modern listening.

A playlist to celebrate 20 years

We’re also bringing the celebration onto our platform with the Spotify x SXSW playlist, a curated collection of artists who have taken to the Spotify House stage at the festival over the years. Whether you’re in the crowd at Stubb’s or listening from home, revisit some of the songs and voices that have defined the past two decades.

You’re in Control: Spotify Lets You Steer the Algorithm

December 10, 2025

For the first time, Spotify is giving users the power to steer the algorithm. Gustav Söderström, Spotify’s Co-President, CPO, and CTO, shares the vision behind Prompted Playlist, and how a new era of listener control is taking shape.

Spotify is entering its next chapter, and it felt worth pausing for a moment to look at how far we’ve come and what comes next. With 713 million listeners, 90% of whom say Spotify is essential to their day, we’re standing on the edge of something big. Equally important is our dedication to delivering real innovation and growth for the artists who leverage the power of Spotify to connect with their fans.

That means pushing ourselves again. Stretching the boundaries of what listening can be. And moving into a new era: one that gives you – the user – more control than ever before.

The next evolution of your Spotify

From the start, we’ve tried to make listening feel personal. You’ve seen that in Discover Weekly and Release Radar, which quietly predict what you might love. You’ve also seen it in the tools that let you shape and refresh your own playlists with precision, such as Smart Shuffle, Playlist song suggestions, and Mixing Tools.

But now we’re entering a moment where you don’t just listen to Spotify, you control it.

Imagine a Spotify that doesn’t just passively learn from you but literally listens to you. One you can steer and shape with your own words. For the first time, your ideas, your logic, and your creativity can actually power the Spotify algorithm, directing how it thinks, adapts, and responds to you.

Introducing Prompted Playlist, where your words bring your playlist to life

Starting December 11, Premium listeners in New Zealand will get early access to our latest beta feature: Prompted Playlist. It’s the first feature that puts control of the algorithm and the broader Spotify experience directly in your hands.

Prompted Playlist lets you describe exactly what you want to hear and set the rules for your personalized playlist. And unlike anything before it, this feature taps into your entire Spotify listening history, all the way back to day one. Each playlist reflects not only what you love today, but the full arc of your taste. Spotify then curates and keeps it fresh based on your listening patterns and world knowledge.

You could ask for “music from my top artists from the last five years,” then push it further with “and feature deep cuts I haven’t heard yet.” Or you could request “high-energy pop and hip-hop for a 30-minute 5K run that keeps a steady pace before easing into relaxing songs for a cool-down,” and layer on something like “include music from this year’s biggest films and most-talked-about TV shows that match my taste.” You choose how broad or specific you want to go.

You can fine-tune the results by editing the prompt, or start fresh whenever you want. And for each song, we’ll include descriptions and context that tell you the story behind the recommendation so the playlist feels alive and crafted specifically for your prompt and your taste.

You can also set it to refresh daily or weekly so your playlist always stays new and in sync with your world. Consider this your chance to curate your next Discover Weekly, exactly the way you want it. Need a little help getting started? Tap “Ideas” to pick from prompts like “songs from artists who are headlining major tours right now,” and get a playlist tailored to your taste.

For even more inspiration, our music editors and culture experts have crafted a set of fun and inventive prompts and English language algorithms that will show up as personalized playlists on Home. And because this is a beta, the experience will evolve as we scale to more listeners. We’re excited to see what we learn along the way.

Why it matters

We believe that technology is only as good as the humans behind it. Spotify listeners have created nearly 9 billion playlists, which is proof that human curation is still the heartbeat of the platform. But until now, unless you were a developer at Spotify and could write your own playlist algorithm, your best ideas might have stayed in your head.

Prompted Playlist brings those ideas to life using just the English language. There’s no longer a tradeoff between control and convenience. You finally get both.

And for artists, this unlocks smarter, more inspired discovery, surfacing their music for the right listeners and opening new ways to deepen their fan bases.

What’s next: More control for you

This new feature is part of a broader shift in how we think about personalization and what we think consumers will expect from their services in the future. Our goal is to make Spotify more personal, more responsive, more intelligent, and more aware of the world and culture around it, in order to bring greater value to listeners, artists, and creators.

This is just the beginning of a new phase where listeners take the lead and make even more of every minute.

2026 is going to be epic for fans and artists alike. We can’t wait to share what’s coming next. Stay tuned.

Evolving How We Lead

September 30, 2025

Earlier today, Founder & CEO Daniel Ek shared the following note with all Spotify employees. More detail can also be found in the press release here.

Team,

In the Spotify of today, all eyes (and ears) are on us. There’s not much we do that goes unnoticed. But that wasn’t always the case. In a small makeshift office in Riddargatan, Stockholm, a few of us set out to solve what felt like an impossible idea: to make every song available instantly, legally, in a product people love. Fast forward almost 20 years later and that “impossible idea” has become a platform that is used by almost three-quarters of a billion people around the globe. We’ve helped reshape an industry that is not only growing again, but reaching new heights.

I don’t often pause to reflect because looking ahead has always been my instinct. But I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve created together—a beloved user experience, a business that thrives, and a team that continues to raise the bar. A huge amount of credit goes to Alex and Gustav, who have led with skill, vision and conviction. They have proven themselves again and again, and I believe they are ready for what’s next.

So, with full confidence in Gustav and Alex, on January 1, 2026, I will move to Executive Chairman, and Gustav and Alex will become our co-CEOs and they will also join our Board of Directors (with approval from shareholders).

I have always thought about roles as missions. At Spotify, I have had about nine missions while keeping the same title. In the early days, I assembled furniture and negotiated our first deals. I ran finance, I led product and then I led sales and then marketing. I have held roles and done jobs across most teams here. This is simply my next mission. My title changes—but my commitment and belief in what we’re building does not.

For most of you, very little will change. Spotify has a strong leadership team in place and a solid plan we are executing against. That’s not changing. What changes is my time and focus. As Executive Chairman, I will spend more of my time on the long arc: strategy, capital allocation, regulatory efforts and the calls that will shape the next decade for Spotify. Gustav and Alex will continue to report to me and we will work closely together with our Board of Directors. This approach reflects a European Chairman setup, which is quite different from a traditional U.S. one that many of you might be familiar with. This also means I will be more hands on than some of my U.S. peers who have a Chairman title.

Why now? Because Alex and Gustav have clearly demonstrated that, with the support of this remarkable team, they are ready to lead Spotify as co-CEOs. And because you all have stepped up, I can confidently step back from the day-to-day. Together, we’ve shown the world that Spotify is not only a great product but also a great business—delivering our first full year of profitability in company history. We couldn’t be better positioned. And to be clear, I’m not leaving. I’ll remain deeply involved in the big, defining decisions about our future, partnering with Gustav and Alex as they lead the way forward.

A personal note on what’s next for me. I am often asked, “How do we build more Spotifys out of Europe?” That’s why several years ago, I announced my intention to help create more of these supercompanies—companies that are developing new technologies to tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time. I’ll share more about how I’ll put some of my builder energy there. But today is about Spotify.

Thank you for two extraordinary decades. Thank you for your belief in making impossible ideas possible, and for allowing me the greatest privilege of a lifetime. Let’s keep going—harder, better, faster, stronger.

—Daniel

Spotify Announces Leadership Evolution: Daniel Ek to Become Executive Chairman, Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström to Become Co-CEOs in January 2026

September 30, 2025

The following press release went live on Business Wire earlier today. You can also find more detail here in Founder & CEO Daniel Ek’s letter to employees.

Stockholm and New York — 30 September, 2025

Today, Spotify (NYSE: SPOT) announced that Founder and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek will transition to the role of Executive Chairman effective January 1, 2026. The company also announced Gustav Söderström, co-President and Chief Product and Technology Officer, and Alex Norström, co-President and Chief Business Officer, as its co-Chief Executive Officers. They will report to Daniel Ek and will also serve on the company’s Board of Directors subject to shareholder approval.

This evolution formalizes how Spotify has successfully operated since 2023 with the co-presidents largely leading strategic development and operational execution of Spotify. As Executive Chairman, Ek’s role will more closely reflect a European Chairman setup, where he will determine capital allocation, map the long term future of Spotify and continue to provide support and guidance to its senior team.

“I always believed that Spotify could play an important role in revolutionizing listening around the world, and with more than 700 million users, we’ve truly charted a new course bringing creativity to every corner of the globe,” said Daniel Ek. “Over the last few years, I’ve turned over a large part of the day-to-day management and strategic direction of Spotify to Alex and Gustav–who have shaped the company from our earliest days and are now more than ready to guide our next phase. This change simply matches titles to how we already operate. In my role as Executive Chairman, I will focus on the long arc of the company and keep the Board and our co-CEOs deeply connected through my engagement.”

Woody Marshall, Lead Independent Director of Spotify’s Board, said, “The Board has been working closely with Daniel on the evolution of Spotify’s leadership structure for several years. We have tremendous confidence in Alex and Gustav as they step into these roles. They each have more than fifteen years with the company and have been instrumental in driving our success and enabling Spotify to lead our industry. We are also thrilled that Daniel will be actively involved, giving Spotify both founder-led strategic stewardship and mentorship to the co-CEOs as the company continues to innovate and scale.”

The new co-CEOs said in a joint statement, “We’ve worked together a very long time and have seen Spotify through many different chapters. Nearly three years ago, when we stepped into our role as co-Presidents, we charged our teams with relentlessly focusing on building the best and most valuable experience available anywhere and that ambition hasn’t changed. While we bring different experiences and perspectives to the CEO role, we both have a strong bias to action and can’t wait to get started knowing that we will have Daniel’s full partnership and ongoing support.”

These changes will all be effective January 1, 2026.

The company will host a live question and answer session to discuss the transition on Tuesday, September 30th at 8:30amEST. A live webcast of the call will be accessible at investors.spotify.com.

About Spotify Technology S.A.

Spotify’s platform revolutionized music listening forever when we launched in 2008. Today, more listeners than ever can discover, manage and enjoy over 100 million tracks, nearly 7 million podcasts titles, and 350,000 audiobooks a la carte on Spotify. We are the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service with more than 696 million users, including 276 million subscribers across 184 markets.

Investor Relations:
Bryan Goldberg
ir@spotify.com
investors.spotify.com

Public Relations:
Dustee Jenkins
press@spotify.com

Spotify Unveils Uninterrupted Video Podcasts, Audience-Driven Payments, and the New Spotify for Creators Platform

November 13, 2024

Live from Spotify’s LA campus, today we announced a series of new offerings aimed at helping creators significantly grow their audiences and better monetize their video podcasts on Spotify. During Now Playing, some of the world’s leading creators, artists, and authors joined us for valuable updates on our business from company executives, connected with Spotify’s Creator Partnerships team, and explored our state-of-the-art video and audio production facilities.

Daniel Ek (Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images for Spotify)

“Spotify Premium has long set the standard for listening on any device,” shared Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek. “By delivering a best-in-class video offering uninterrupted by ad breaks, combined with Spotify’s flexibility and ubiquity, we can provide an experience for your audience that is superior to any platform. And by giving you, the creators, another path to monetization beyond ads, we’re freeing you up to spend more time doing what you love: creating.”

So, what’s in store for creators? They’ll be part of a new and industry-leading audience-driven payout model for Premium video consumption, and their fans will now get video content uninterrupted by ads. Spotify’s Partner Program, a brand-new monetization program for creators hosted with Spotify, will launch that allows creators to earn more for their audio and video content. This program will offer both audience-driven payouts from our premium video revenue and an Ads component.

Spotify is one of the largest platforms in the world for creators, with more than 640 million users and more than 250 million subscribers. Video consumption is rapidly growing on Spotify, so we’re improving the viewing experience and equipping creators with the tools and resources they need to connect with fans, grow, and monetize.

We’ve seen shifts in podcast trends across the industry globally, and one of them is that video consumption hours have expanded rapidly—more than 250 million users have watched a video podcast on Spotify, and nearly two-thirds of podcast listeners say they prefer podcasts with video.

The number of creators actively publishing videos monthly on Spotify has grown by more than 50% year over year. There are now more than 300,000 video podcast shows on Spotify, including popular shows like The Joe Rogan Experience, Call Her Daddy, The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett, Rotten Mango, The Comment Section with Drew Afualo, Therapuss with Jake Shane, What Now? with Trevor Noah, Modern Wisdom, Erika Taught Me, and more. We’ve also recently activated music videos in 85 additional markets, and the engagement has continued to soar.

Photo by Presley Ann/Getty Images for Spotify

“By many metrics, it is the fastest way to succeed on Spotify today. Half of the new podcasts that build sustained audiences include video,” said Spotify Co-President and Chief Product Officer Gustav Söderström. “And with the new tools, features, and experiences we’re launching, we expect that edge will continue to grow. This is an opportunity for everyone in the room and beyond.”

For creators

How does it all work? Whether someone is a current audio-only podcaster, new to embracing video on our platform, or an established video creator not yet on Spotify, our latest video offerings will unlock additional paths to monetization and growth.

Monetize
Eligible creators can apply now to join the Spotify Partner Program. This new monetization program opens more opportunities for creators to earn revenue for their content and transform their shows into sustainable businesses. The Spotify Partner Program has two components: Premium Video Revenue and Ads. Both programs will be available to creators to earn revenue based on video consumption from Spotify Premium subscribers in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia beginning in January.

Grow
We’re evolving our podcaster platform to better serve the needs of today’s multiformat creators with a more expansive and streamlined hub: Spotify for Creators.

Connect
We’re creating more opportunities for creators to deepen connections with their fans and deliver the best video-viewing experience with Spotify.

Discover
We’re introducing video clips for creators to enhance discoverability and promote their podcast episodes on Spotify.

Click to read more details about these new opportunities and programs for creators and consumers.

“This is an opportunity for everyone in the room and beyond,” Gustav continued. “Our goal is to build the best experience for you so that you can better connect with your audience. And deliver your creativity to the world.”

For the fans

As we’ve made it easier for fans to navigate and discover music, podcasts, and audiobooks on Spotify, we’re leveraging our platform’s flexibility to give fans new ways to experience video.

In addition to Premium subscribers in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Canada getting video content uninterrupted by ads beginning in January, we’re making it easy for fans to stream their favorite video content in the foreground or background without disrupting the experience—whether they are using Spotify Free or Premium. For example, they can begin an episode while getting ready for the day, watching in the foreground before slipping their phones into their pockets to continue listening in the background as they commute.

Fans can expect an array of great video features, including chapters, comments, pinch-to-zoom, thumbnail scrubbing, and new ways to find and go deep on podcasts.

Check out more coverage from Spotify’s Now Playing event.

See if You’ve Got What It Takes To Be a Spotify Star

August 24, 2023

On Spotify’s Community Support forum, users can find answers to their toughest Spotify questions. These days, we aim for 90% of new help topics to receive a response within 48 hours—up 300% from just two years ago. This speed and efficiency in our service has recently earned Spotify several awards, most recently, “Best Customer Success Community” at the Community Industry Awards. This is, in no small part, thanks to the Spotify Stars.

Spotify’s Stars Program is a 10-year-old initiative that empowers Spotify Community super users with the tools and resources to help other listeners get their questions answered. “There are over 550 million Spotify users out there, and there are a limited number of employees we have available to answer every possible question,” says Allison Leahy, Director, Spotify Customer Service Operations. “The Stars are really key to our success and helping us, not only to answer questions, but to innovate across the whole Spotify experience, from the features to the products.”

The Stars are Spotify fans who have used Spotify and engaged on our community forums for years. They’re particularly passionate about our programs and products, and also about working together and with other users. “There’s something extra personal when members draw from their personal experiences, and it means there’s someone who has a different way of thinking about one of our programs or products who’s able to shed unique light on an answer,” says Allison.

Stars enjoy learning new skills and furthering their career development, especially when it comes to communication, as they work across cultures and gain rich insights into how tech companies operate. They attain early access to insights about Spotify, enjoy open discussions with Spotify employees across R&D and operations, and receive plenty of Spotify swag. They have also championed new programs, including a live-streamed concert featuring artists beloved by the Community.

The ultimate benefit to participating in the Stars program is the Star Jam event, where the top contributors may get the chance to visit Spotify’s HQ in Stockholm. This past year, they got to sit in on user research–led discussions about products pre-release, be a part of a design-thinking workshop around the Spotify user experience, take a tour of our studios, and listen in on Product and Desktop team meetings going through the latest changes in our desktop UI. The Stars also heard from guest speakers including our Co-President Gustav Söderström, who spoke about the evolution of Spotify and how we’ve responded to user feedback in the past when making product decisions.

“It’s pretty incredible that at this stage in the company’s life cycle—over 15 years after launch, and having reached 550+ million monthly active users—that our senior leaders are still taking the time to meet the Stars,” says Allison. “We don’t take it for granted that there is that level of interest from the Stars, or even from our executives. It really motivates us to bring our best work and ensure this is the kind of program people want to join.”

For those who are looking to become a Star, Allison recommends spending time on our Community forum. “Read through questions, respond when you feel comfortable. Figure out what spaces you’re drawn to and even reach out to the existing Stars to hear about their experience. Or check out @AskSpotifyStars on X. If you find you are ready to join the program, you can apply from the bottom of the Stars page.”

We also put together a short quiz so you can test your Community-savvy skills.

This quiz is no longer active.

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Connect Patreon to Spotify and Stream Your Favorite Podcasts in One Place

August 9, 2023

You can’t get enough of your favorite podcasts—and your favorite creators can’t get enough of your listening, either. Many podcasters have turned to Patreon to add an income stream by sharing paid content directly to fans. Starting today, you can connect your Spotify and Patreon accounts to access patron-exclusive podcasts right where you’re already listening to your favorite audio content.

This news builds on our March announcement that we’d be partnering with Patreon to enable creators to publish their subscriber feeds to Spotify via the Spotify Open Access API. After months of testing, we’re excited to share that this partnership is now available for all creators.

“Spotify’s partnership with Patreon underscores our commitment to give creators more power and choice, and provide listeners with access to different types of content,” says Gustav Söderström, Co-President and Chief Product and Technology Officer at Spotify. “Many podcasters use Patreon to connect with their fans, and for the first time ever, they can link their accounts so fans can access and listen to these shows on Spotify. This partnership gives podcasters a new opportunity to reach Spotify’s global audience, over 551M users, to increase their income and grow their show.”

Patreon is our latest partner in a growing list of publishers and platforms that offer subscriber-only content powered by Spotify Open Access. With just a few clicks, podcast creators on Patreon can add Spotify distribution to their podcast to grow their audiences while retaining full control over their subscriber bases, their content, and their revenue. We’re also testing a new feature that will help creators promote their subscription on Spotify by putting a banner at the top of their free show page that points users to their paid offerings. This makes it easier for existing subscribers to consume the content they’ve paid for, and for potential subscribers to find out about subscription options. This feature will be available to creators leveraging one of Spotify’s integrated platforms, including Patreon, Supporting Cast, and Supercast, among many others.

“We are incredibly excited about this partnership with Spotify, where creators can seamlessly integrate Patreon’s industry-leading podcast-membership tools to grow their business, host their listener community, and directly engage with their most passionate listeners,” says Julian Gutman, Chief Product Officer at Patreon. “The partnership between Patreon and Spotify represents shared values and a vision of a new future for internet creators. While some platforms focus on building closed systems that push creators and their fans further apart, Spotify and Patreon are building a more open ecosystem that delivers greater value to everyone, particularly creators and fans.”

For the Record sat down with Spotify Product Manager Ben Peskoe and Patreon Product Manager Eric Fong to hear more about the integration.

What have we seen from creators and their fans in the months since our integration announcement?

Ben: We’ve heard excitement from both creators and their fans! If someone primarily listens to podcasts on Spotify and subscribes to a podcast on Patreon, they previously wouldn’t have been able to listen to that podcast’s member-only content on Spotify. Instead, they would have needed to switch apps just for this one podcast. This solves a major pain point for both groups: Now Spotify users can listen to all their favorite content in one place, and Patreon podcasters can grow their audiences on Spotify. People are happy to now be able to use Spotify for all of their podcast listening.

Eric: Plus, creators are always excited to meet fans where they are, and making their Patreon-exclusive podcasts available to their fans on one of the best podcast-listening platforms out there is one way to do it. We know fans love having a single app where they can listen to both their free and paid podcasts.

We conducted a beta test with select creators. What are the early results of that testing that we’re bringing to this launch?

Eric: One of the key learnings was around helping creators promote and onboard new members to their Patreon through Spotify. In collaboration with Spotify, we’ve built out ways that easily allow a creator to promote their paid podcast on their free podcast on Spotify, and we’ve made this experience easy for new members to discover and listen to a creator on Spotify while signing up on Patreon and enjoying the community there.

Why was it important for Spotify and Patreon to integrate?

Ben: For creators, the integration with Patreon empowers podcasters to decide which monetization solution works best for them, and it broadens the distribution of their member-only content. At Spotify, we want to support as many business models as possible so creators have options for how they want to build their business, and that includes creators using third-party tools to generate revenue. That’s why we started Spotify Open Access in 2021.

For listeners, we want to ensure they have access to everything they might possibly want to listen to, including podcasts from creators around the world, video podcasts, and beyond.

Eric: For Patreon, we want to help creators distribute their content to their fans however they want, and Spotify is one of the most desired distribution platforms for podcasts. For Spotify, it’s an opportunity to bring some amazing, Patreon-exclusive podcasts onto their platform and offer creators more control over their business and more ways to monetize.

How does this integration enable creators to better live off their art?

Eric: This strengthens the direct connection between creators and their most valuable fans. Creators can provide more to their members by offering more listening options. And they’re getting broader exposure to potential fans through Spotify. It’s important that we partner with platforms that put creators first. Spotify is one of those companies, and their thoughtful investment in this integration from day one is a testament to that commitment.

Ben: We’re helping creators better build their communities and build thriving businesses. With Patreon’s inclusion in Spotify Open Access, creators can maintain full control of their subscription and membership list when they publish to Spotify, and they don’t need to use a different subscription solution for each platform where people consume their content. Plus, the new banner on the creator’s show page will build awareness for the creator’s paid offering, and help creators generate more subscribers.

Ben, what Patreon creator are you excited to subscribe to so you can listen to bonus content on Spotify?

Ben: I’m a big fan of Partially Examined Life, which is, as they say, “a philosophy podcast by some guys who were, at one point, set on doing philosophy for a living but then thought better of it.” They do an awesome job covering famous (and not-so-famous) works of philosophy in a way that is both deeply informative and funny. Their first 100 episodes or so are for subscribers only, so it will be fun to go back through their archive to brush up on stuff I learned about in college, or more likely, I never read in the first place.

Spotify Reveals More Opportunities and Features for Creators During Stream On

March 8, 2023

Artists, songwriters, video and content creators, podcasters, and fans from all over the world joined Spotify for our second Stream On event today in Los Angeles. Alex Cooper, Bill Simmons, Ed Sheeran, Emma Chamberlain, Jennifer Lopez, GloRilla, Halsey, Joe Rogan, The Jonas Brothers, Karol G, Luke Combs, St. Vincent, Tash Sultana, and other luminaries mixed with Spotify team members to share announcements and inspiring stories, and take part in hands-on demos of new artists tools and creator resources coming to the platform.

“Stream On is about all the ways we are bringing Spotify to life and letting creators at all stages of their careers know that we are open for business,” Spotify Founder and CEO Daniel Ek said. “We are focused on building the best home for them—a place where they can establish a career, thrive, and grow, and where the world can be inspired by their creativity. And that’s what we’ve been doing for almost 17 years: building, improving, and reimagining this home to better meet creator needs and help them chart new pathways to success.”

From new app functionality to a holistic one-stop shop for podcasting to more opportunities for artists to engage with their fans, Stream On further cements our commitment to the creative community.

“As we look to the future, we are excited to expand that ambition to even more creators across new formats. We’re enabling more creativity, discovery, and personalization than ever before by providing the best resources, support, and interactivity,” Daniel said.

Helping fans discover creators and artists

We’ve unveiled one of the biggest evolutions since Spotify’s inception: a new, dynamic interface on mobile built for deeper discovery and more meaningful connections between artists and fans.

With this new experience, we’re giving fans an even more active role in the audio discovery process, and giving creators even more space to share their work. Powered by advanced recommendations, new visual canvases, and a completely new and interactive design, the new interface is making discovering new audio easier than ever before and helping introduce users to their next favorite artist, podcast, or book. It’s all about closing the distance between creators and fans—and setting the stage for long-term, lasting connections that reach beyond viral success.

The new Spotify will roll out in waves to our 500 million+ monthly active users beginning today. Here’s what to expect:

Music, podcast, and audiobook previews across Music, Podcasts & Shows, and Audiobooks feeds for listeners to sample before they play or save. We’re also bringing “shortcuts” to the top of listeners’ feeds—giving users easy access to some of their recent and favorite listens.
New feeds for discovery on Search that will allow users to quickly and easily explore personalized, short Canvas clips from tracks across some of your favorite genres. Users can easily save the song to a playlist, follow the artist, or share it with friends, all from one place. Looking for something else? Explore related genres using the hashtag within the feed, all with the goal of making discovery even easier.
- We’re also bringing this feature to popular playlists like Discover Weekly, Release Radar, New Music Friday, and RapCaviar, inviting users to preview tracks on a playlist before diving in.
Just like with music, we’re now serving Autoplay for Podcasts—when a podcast ends, another episode that fits the user’s tastes and is relevant will automatically start playing.
More to love with our personalized AI DJ that transforms how listeners hear and discover the music they love.
Smart Shuffle, the easiest way to breathe new life into custom curated playlists with just the tap of a button.

“Spotify recommendations drive close to half of all users’ streams. And when listeners decide to follow a creator, they listen to, on average, five times more of their music,” said Gustav Söderström, Spotify Co-President and Chief Product & Technology Officer. “That’s why discoveries on Spotify—unlike many other platforms—give creators so much more than just a fleeting moment of viral fame. Those meaningful, long-term connections are a key part of what makes Spotify a platform for professional and aspiring artists.”

Supporting artist success through streaming

We also unveiled our annual music royalties report, Loud & Clear. The 2023 update demonstrates that more and more artists are finding success than ever before: The number of artists generating $1M+, as well as those generating $10,000+, has more than doubled over the past five years. Additionally, we estimate that the 50,000th highest-earning artist on Spotify generated more than $50,000 across all recorded revenue sources.

Loud & Clear also details how Spotify pays the vast majority of every dollar it generates for music—nearly 70%—back to the industry, and all-time Spotify payouts to music rights holders are approaching $40 billion.

Enabling audience development for artists through new and enhanced tools

We’re always building up our suite of tools to help artists find the fans who’ll love their music most. Here are a few of the new features they will soon find in the Campaigns section of Spotify for Artists:

Marquee is a full-screen, sponsored recommendation of a new release that’s focused on reaching listeners who have shown interest in an artist’s music. On average, Marquee is 10 times more cost-effective at getting listeners to stream music on Spotify than ads are on the most popular social media platforms.
Discovery Mode is a tool through which artists and their teams identify priority songs, and Spotify will add that signal to the algorithms that shape personalized listening sessions. Today, Discovery Mode is directly available within Spotify for Artists, and is accessible to a wider range of artists and their teams, including thousands of independently distributed artists and labels.
Showcase is a mobile card on our brand-new home feed that will introduce an artist’s music—whether a new release or catalog—to likely listeners. We’re just starting to test Showcase with artists and labels, and will make it more widely available in the near future.

We also shared more details on the next revenue line we’ll enable to help artists grow: merchandise and live events.

New Concert and Merch Discovery tools will help make sure concertgoers never miss another show. Listeners will begin to see merch offers and concert listings in far more places across the app. If a show catches a fan’s eye, they can tap a new “interested” button to save the listing to their own calendar in the Live Events Feed. Users can adjust their location and browse concerts worldwide, all personalized to their taste.
Spotify is also expanding its Fans First program to include more artists, ensuring top listeners receive emails and notifications that give them special access to concert pre-sales and merch exclusives.

And we unveiled new features and product expansions that allow more artists to express themselves in new ways and build buzz among fans. These include:

Spotify Clips, which lets artists add 30-second videos to their artist profiles and album pages so fans can go deeper into their stories while they’re listening; and
Countdown Pages, which provide dedicated space on an artist’s profile and Spotify’s Home feed for fans to pre-save albums, see exclusive videos, pre-order merch, preview tracklists, and watch the timer count down to a new release.

Reintroducing Spotify for Podcasters as our one-stop shop for creators

Podcast creators joined our executives onstage to showcase the reimagined Spotify for Podcasters. The site now brings together the best of Spotify’s podcast creator tools into a one-stop shop to create, manage, grow, and monetize podcast content, including:

Broader availability of Spotify-unique features like video podcasting, interactive episodes using Q&A and Polls, subscriptions, and robust analytics
Podcast previews, Podcast Chapters, Spotify Labs, and a new space for educational podcasting content
Megaphone, Spotify’s hosting solution for enterprise publishers, will be integrated into Spotify for Podcasters in the future. Netflix and Australia’s Schwartz Media were just signed on as two of the latest publishers.

We also looked back at the growth of the Spotify Audience Network (SPAN), our audio-first marketplace that connects podcast publishers and independent creators with advertisers, including monthly payouts to opted-in publishers.

Since we launched SPAN in 2021, it has grown by nearly 50%. Advertiser participation has since increased by 500%.
The number of independent and enterprise podcasters taking part in SPAN has grown eightfold in the last two years, with NPR being the latest publisher to join the network.
We’re partnering with Patreon, which will enable creators to expand their creative business through direct payments from fans, and allow fans to listen to their Patreon content on Spotify.

Announcing new and expanded Spotify Originals and exclusives

Spotify Original and exclusive podcasts saw much success in 2022, with Case 63, The Joe Rogan Experience, and Call Her Daddy taking the top spots of the Wrapped top global podcasts. And now that Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain is exclusively on our platform, Spotify has four of the top five biggest hits worldwide.

We’re expanding our catalog with new shows, including The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark. This latest title follows the Batman Unburied series and its characters in a brand-new story led by Phantom 4 and filmmaker, novelist, and comic book writer David S. Goyer.

We’re also introducing more video podcasts, with Forbidden Fruits with Julia Fox and Niki Takesh returning for a second season and an exclusive video podcast edition of the show. Drew Afualo’s podcast, The Comment Section, is also coming to Spotify exclusively starting April 5.

We’ve also entered into an exclusive video partnership with Markiplier to produce exclusive video episodes of Distractible and Go! My Favorite Sports Team for Spotify beginning today. And with innovative partnerships on the way from Collab, Creative Juice, Get Engaged Media, Golden Child, and Karat to bring their creators’ videos to Spotify, as well as limited video series exclusively available on Spotify from Mindset Mentor, we’re looking forward to introducing millions of new listeners to video podcasts.

Welcoming creators and artists “home” to Spotify

Immediately following the presentation, we opened the doors of our campus in Los Angeles’ Arts District to creators for our “Play On” event to demo new products, hold workshops with top industry creators, and share insider knowledge on how best to use Spotify from the people who helped develop the tools at the company. To close out the activities, we’ll be hosting an all-female showcase to celebrate International Women’s Day.

“Today, there are more than 10 million creators on Spotify, with over half a billion listeners across 184 countries and markets,” Daniel noted. “Think about the massive potential that represents for creators. No matter where you are on your own creative journey within music, podcasts, or audiobooks. The potential to reach half a billion people. And that reach is about to become more powerful with what we’ve introduced today.”

Watch the 10-minute recap of the entire event below.

Forward-Looking Statements

The discussion above contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking. For example, the words “will,” “expect,” “potential,” and similar words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and management’s belief about future events and trends, and are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which may adversely affect our business and results of operations, including, but not limited to, our ability to attract and retain users and monetize our products and services; competition; risks associated with our international operations and growth; risks associated with our new products or services and our emphasis on long-term over short-term results; our ability to predict, recommend, and play content that our users enjoy; our ability to maintain the integrity of our technology structure and systems or the security of confidential information; and other risks as set forth in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

Spotify’s New Experience Inspires Deeper Discovery and Connection

March 8, 2023

Spotify has gone through updates and iterations throughout the years, but today, during Stream On, we unveiled our biggest evolution yet: a new, dynamic mobile interface built for deeper discovery and more meaningful connections between artists and fans. It gives listeners a more active role in the audio discovery process and gives creators more space to share their work.

We’ve found that the next generation of listeners craves better ways to sample audio before fully diving in. So get ready for a more active experience with advanced recommendations, a spotlight on visual canvases, and a completely new and interactive design—all to make discovering new audio easier than ever before and help introduce users to their next favorite artist, podcast, or book. Together, these updates work to bring creators and fans closer than ever, and help each build lasting connections.

“The world today pulls us in a million different directions,” said Co-President and Chief Product & Technology Officer Gustav Söderström. “So the most important thing we, at Spotify, can do for creators is to reduce the distance between their art and the people who love it . . . or who would love it as soon as they discovered it.”

What to look out for in Spotify’s more visual, dynamic mobile experience:

Music, Podcasts & Shows, and Audiobook previews on Home: Simply tap into the Music, Podcasts & Shows, or Audiobooks feed to explore visual and audio previews of playlists, albums, podcast episodes, and audiobooks personalized to you. Then, tap to save or share, go deeper into the artist or podcast pages, play from the start, or continue listening from where the preview ended.
New feeds for discovery in Search: Scroll up or down to explore short Canvas clips from tracks from some of your favorite genres. Then easily save the song to a playlist, follow the artist, or share it with friends—all from one place. You can also explore related genres using the hashtags within the feed for easy discovery of new favorites. You can even preview tracks on some of your favorite playlists like Discover Weekly, Release Radar, New Music Friday, and RapCaviar.

Thanks to both of these new feeds of visual clips, you can scroll purposefully through music, podcast, and audiobook previews until you find something you like. And don’t worry—your Favorites aren’t going anywhere. Your shortcuts, or most recently played, will still appear at the top of your Home feed, so you can easily dive into whatever you were listening to last. We’re also adding previews to the top of your music, podcasts & shows, and audiobooks feeds for the first time.

DJ: Speaking of great recommendations . . . these announcements also follow the recent Beta launch of DJ, a new personalized AI guide for Premium users in the U.S. and Canada that knows you and your music taste so well that it can choose what to play for you. We’ve already seen so much love for DJ—both on platform and across social media—and we’re not even out to 100% of users yet. On days when users tune in, fans spend 25% of their listening time with the DJ—and they keep coming back for more, with more than half of first-time listeners coming back to listen to DJ the very next day.*
Smart Shuffle: This new experience keeps listening sessions fresh with personalized recommendations that perfectly match the vibe of an original user-generated playlist. It breathes new life into carefully curated user-generated playlists, shuffling tracks and adding new, perfectly tailored suggestions.
Autoplay for Podcasts: Just like with music, we’re now serving Autoplay for Podcasts. When a podcast ends, another relevant episode that fits your taste will automatically play.

We’re constantly innovating our app experience so we can connect even more artists with listeners. And with these latest updates, you’re primed to discover more music, podcasts, and audiobooks easier than ever before.

*Results are based on eligible users (Premium users in the U.S. and Canada on mobile) and collected from February 22 – March 1.

Behind the Scenes of Spotify’s New AI DJ

March 8, 2023

Since launching Spotify’s brand-new AI DJ in beta a few weeks back, Premium listeners across the U.S. and Canada have had the chance to experience our personalization capabilities in a whole new way. We’ve already seen so much love for DJ—both on-platform and across social media—and we’re not even out to 100% of users yet. On days when users tune in, fans spend 25% of their listening time with DJ, and they keep coming back for more, with more than half of first-time listeners coming back to listen to DJ the very next day.*

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Today at Stream On, Spotify Co-President and Chief R&D Officer Gustav Söderström and Spotify Head of Cultural Partnerships Xavier “X” Jernigan, whose voice is the first model for DJ, got the chance to highlight the new feature even further. With DJ, we’re reimagining how listeners hear and discover the music they love as the tool transforms Spotify from a music tool into a living, breathing, interactive music experience.

What went into building DJ? For the Record connected with some of the minds behind the new feature, including VP of Personalization Ziad Sultan, Head of Product Design for Personalization Emily Galloway, Product Director Zeena Qureshi, and Head of Global Hits J.J. Italiano, to better understand the synergy between the humans and technology that brought DJ to life.

Spotify boasts years of expertise in personalization. How did we leverage this to create DJ?

Ziad Sultan: Personalization is at the heart of what we do. When we ask our listeners what they like most about Spotify, more than 81% cite our personalization. That’s because we have a bit of a secret sauce: We combine state-of-the-art technology with human passion and expertise.

We applied that same recipe to DJ. The result is a delightful music-listening experience that is deeply personalized to each individual listener, yet at a scale that the world has not really seen. Never before has listening felt so completely personal to each and every user. And it’s made possible by a powerful combination of three things: Spotify’s personalization technology, generative AI in the hands of the world’s best music curators, and a stunningly realistic AI voice that brings it all to life.

Can you tell us more about how you designed the experience?

Emily Galloway: DJ is an entirely new way to listen, and a brand-new format, so there wasn’t a formula to follow when we were making decisions. We had to answer some core experiential questions like: “How do we take you on a journey with both familiar and unfamiliar music?” “How do we evoke feelings of nostalgia?” and “What does it mean to give context to music listening?” But most importantly was, “How might we help fans and creators form a deeper, more meaningful connection?” I’m really proud of where we’ve landed—making personalization and AI more human than ever.

We know listeners are excited as well—they feel something different. We continue to see connection and discovery as the main themes of DJ. We found that when listeners hear commentary alongside personal music recommendations, they’re more willing to try something new, to listen to a song they may have otherwise skipped. For Spotify, that brings us closer to our goal of deepening artist and fan connections.

Why did you decide to use a human-like AI powered voice for this experience?

Zeena Qureshi: We know that human voice helps people form connections, and the same is true when it comes to DJ. We found that having the voice sound human is key for users to foster a deeper connection with DJ, as human voice provides familiarity and instant context. By incorporating voice traits such as pacing, projection, emotion, and emphasis, it results in a DJ that’s emotional and highly realistic.

Last year, Spotify acquired Sonantic and its unique patented algorithms, making all this possible. Sonantic is now Spotify’s dynamic AI voice platform that creates compelling, nuanced, and stunningly realistic voices from text.

How does DJ leverage the expertise of our music editors?

J.J. Italiano: DJ is built from human editorial expertise married with cutting-edge technology—that is Spotify’s superpower. The editorial team, which consists of hundreds of experts across the globe who know music and culture inside and out, can now harness this power to help tell artists’ stories and better contextualize their songs. To help arm DJ with knowledge and expertise, we created a Writers’ Room with music experts, culture experts, data curators, scriptwriters, and generative AI. Adding in this context gives the listener a deeper connection and experience when hearing an artist or song—and I’m very excited to bring it to listeners!

Ziad Sultan: Putting generative AI technology in the hands of our music experts allows them to scale their expertise like never before. Taking a Writers’ Room approach allows us to ensure that the commentary is accurate, relevant, and enriching to the product experience. We’re very excited about this approach that builds on our years of experience combining human expertise with world-class technology. That’s how DJ is able to deepen the connection between fans and their favorite artists, as well as help them discover new ones.

Ready to dive in? Learn where to find your DJ in your own Spotify app.

*Results are based on eligible users (Premium users in the U.S. and Canada on mobile) and collected from February 22 to March 1.

One stage, two decades of sound

Looking back while looking ahead

Discovery across the festival

A playlist to celebrate 20 years

The next evolution of your Spotify

Introducing Prompted Playlist, where your words bring your playlist to life

Why it matters

What’s next: More control for you

For creators

For the fans

What have we seen from creators and their fans in the months since our integration announcement?

We conducted a beta test with select creators. What are the early results of that testing that we’re bringing to this launch?

Why was it important for Spotify and Patreon to integrate?

How does this integration enable creators to better live off their art?

Ben, what Patreon creator are you excited to subscribe to so you can listen to bonus content on Spotify?

Helping fans discover creators and artists

Supporting artist success through streaming

Enabling audience development for artists through new and enhanced tools

Reintroducing Spotify for Podcasters as our one-stop shop for creators

Announcing new and expanded Spotify Originals and exclusives

Welcoming creators and artists “home” to Spotify

What to look out for in Spotify’s more visual, dynamic mobile experience:

Spotify boasts years of expertise in personalization. How did we leverage this to create DJ?

Can you tell us more about how you designed the experience?

Why did you decide to use a human-like AI powered voice for this experience?

How does DJ leverage the expertise of our music editors?

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