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Spotify Europe General Manager Michael Krause Reflects on 15+ Years in Europe

October 10, 2023

Michael Krause staring directly at camera, wearing blue button down against a background with the Spotify logo

When Spotify launched in Europe in 2008, the music industry—and the world at large—changed forevermore. At the time, few could have predicted that a start-up originating in Stockholm only a few years prior would grow beyond Europe to become the largest audio-streaming subscription service in the world with over 550 million users worldwide. 

Since then, Spotify has innovated and expanded to incorporate podcasts, audiobooks, and the latest technology into our product. And as a result, we’ve also transformed the artist-listener relationship and impacted listening worldwide. Michael Krause has had a front-row seat to Spotify’s expansion—and the trends it’s both inspired and amplified—for quite some time, first in his role as the Managing Director for Central and Eastern Europe, and now as General Manager for Europe. 

For the Record recently caught up with Michael to learn about some of the most notable changes in his markets over the last 15+ years. 

Can you give us a short musical overview of the UK, Spain, France, and Sweden?

It was amazing to look back at the streaming trends over 15 years and pick up on the similarities and differences between the four countries. It’s also great to reflect on how listening habits have evolved more broadly over time and how we’ve contributed to the growth of local music.

In the U.K., 1990s nostalgia is still going strong. Britpop is high on the listening figures, with Oasis and the Arctic Monkeys as firm favorites. Unsurprisingly though, Ed Sheeran takes the crown for most-streamed British artist, second only to Drake in all-time streams. It is also great to see early British Spotify adopters including Adele, Sam Smith, and Stormzy going on to achieve massive streaming success in the U.K. market and around the world.

Meanwhile, Spain has seen a significant shift in musical taste, replacing pop music with urban Latino, a genre which has topped the charts for the past six years. The likes of Manuel Turizo and Rauw Alejandro in the top five artists reflects the South and Central American influence on Spanish music trends.

France has also experienced a shift in listening habits over the years, from international rock and pop in the earlier years to a dominance of French hip-hop and rap today. This is reflected by the market’s top five artists of all time, led by local sensation Jul. When we look at 2008, when Spotify was launched, to more recent years, we see an embracement of local musical genres, which has overtaken international music.

Sweden—the birthplace of Spotify—on the other hand, has been steadfast in its love of pop music, which has been the most-streamed genre every year since 2011. Fittingly in 2023, given the triumph at Eurovision, Swedish pop leads the way.

Are Spotify fans in these markets more interested in global top musicians, local artists, or a mix of both? 

This is something that has changed over time. When Spotify launched in 2008, streaming across all markets was largely focused on international artists and those in the mainstream globally. But as time has passed, streaming for local artists has increased significantly.

Taking France as an example, the figures show that in 2008, French artists made up a very small proportion of listener streams. Jump forward ten years and the majority of France’s top 100 artists were local, something that has continued up to today.

This trend sums up why we are so proud of Spotify and what we’ve achieved over the past 15 years in Europe. The platform empowers creators to grow their audience base and allows listeners to discover a wider variety of artists, and it is fantastic to see that they are gravitating towards local talent. What’s even more interesting is seeing that these local artists can now travel beyond their own geographical or linguistic barriers—as an example, every one of two streams for a French-produced artist comes [from] outside of France. It’s quite an extraordinary achievement, one that was literally unthinkable 15 years ago. Swedish artists are also riding the wave as they are streamed more than twice as much outside of their own country. 

What other notable behaviors are you seeing across the region?

There has been a notable rise in the popularity of hip-hop across all markets, and this year the genre is consistently among the top five across the U.K., Sweden, and France. Back in 2008, on the other hand, rock was the top genre across all four countries.

Another trend that stands out is the breadth and variety of genres featured in the top 10. While pop, rock, and other classics remain prominent, the likes of reggaeton, trap Latino, and permanent wave have found their way into the mix.

What about podcasting across Europe? 

Podcasts continue to grow in popularity, with listening figures rising across Europe. While they have been well established in the U.K. and Germany for some time, some of the sharpest rises have come from countries newer to podcasting. In Spain, for example, podcast listens grew by 298% in 2022, and France saw a staggering 379% increase. More big influencers are successfully launching podcasts, including Hobbyloss in Germany and Canapé Six Places in France. 

Can you share some of the continuing opportunities in the region?

Spotify began as a music-streaming company, and over the past 15 years we’ve evolved into a global platform for audio content. We’re always looking to create new opportunities for artists to connect with audiences across the world and shape the future of creativity.

Audiobooks is a focus area which offers significant innovation and growth potential and has large and engaged audiences in Europe. We launched audiobooks last year and recently expanded our offering to make 150,000 audiobooks available in the U.K. and Australia as part of users’ existing Spotify Premium subscriptions. The U.K. is one of the largest markets for audiobooks globally, and we know there’s similar appetite in countries like Germany. As we help connect creators with new audiences, we’ll be applying the learnings as we plan for launches in further European markets.

Meanwhile, AI has huge potential to help artists and listeners form deeper connections while expanding their reach. We’re piloting new OpenAI technology that translates podcasts into new languages in the original creator’s voice, making them accessible to listeners worldwide.

Do you have a favorite musical moment from the past 15 years? Any you’re anticipating? 

One artist who has accompanied me through that time is The Streets with Mike Skinner. Especially in the pandemic—they were my most-listened-to artist according to my Wrapped. The biggest transformation over the last 15 years, which I’ve found fascinating, is that the Arctic Monkeys have gained a whole new audience through social media and now have several songs with over 1 billion plays. 

One thing that I’m looking forward to the most is the comeback of Blink-182 with their new album. The pre-save version of it is already available on Spotify.

What’s the importance of Europe for Spotify as you celebrate this milestone? 

We’re really proud that we’ve been a pioneer in so many aspects and that we’ve built this in Europe and have remained in Europe. The journey has been amazing, and we’re growing fast in Europe. Music and audio is such a universal use case. Every person from a newborn to members of the older population finds joy in music. And our platform has room for everyone. 

With the phenomenal level of engagement that we have on our platform in Europe, we see lots of opportunities for sustainable and profitable growth. We’re going to continue to expand and build upon the Advertising business, our Free and Premium music product, and in Podcasts. Europe is our single biggest source of revenue, and with the opportunities ahead we think it can remain so. 

5 Questions (and Answers) with Federica Tremolada, Managing Director, Spotify Southern and Eastern Europe

April 26, 2021

Federica Tremolada joined Spotify exactly two years ago as Managing Director for Southern & Eastern Europe. This diverse region is made up of 26 countries, including big established markets like Italy, Spain, Turkey, and Poland, as well as a number of fast-growing newer markets, like Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece, and the Balkans. From the start, Federica knew there wouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all approach for her markets. 

At Spotify, Federica has combined her passion for audio (she’s been a musician since a young age) with her experience in international media and technology. Her background in negotiating and managing complex international media partnerships led her to have a deep understanding of different business models at Spotify and how to fit them into the puzzle that is Southern and Eastern Europe. 

Recently, Federica was honored on Billboard’s 2021 International Power Players list. For the Record took the opportunity to check in with Federica to hear about what she’s been up to—and what she looks forward to down the road.

What’s Spotify’s ultimate vision and goal in Southern and Eastern Europe (SEE)?

Our mission at Spotify is to unlock the potential of human creativity—by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by it. The translation of our mission into the 26 markets of the Southern and Eastern European region is to enable this unique connection between artists and fans at a local level by providing the most relevant content, a highly sophisticated personalized experience, and the best product fit to local artists, users, and advertisers. 

If I think about some of the most recent campaigns we’ve launched, they had an enormous impact both locally and globally. As an example, our Sanremo 2021 campaign was a huge success! During the five days of the popular Italian musical festival, the official playlist was the third-most-listened-to playlist globally, just behind Today’s Top Hits and RapCaviar. 

What are some of your greatest achievements at Spotify to date?

One of the biggest achievements came from better understanding the diversity and priorities of all my 26 markets with high growth potential, both in terms of new monthly active users and subscribers. Being more local means providing an adequate type of support to creators and being culturally relevant for all our users regardless where they come from. This translated into multiple initiatives we launched in the region: the localization of Spotify for Artists in most of the relevant languages, the launch of an Original & Exclusive strategy for podcasts starting from our top markets that brought an Emmy-like award in Spain (Premios Ondas) for XRey, a bigger and better approach to our local marketing campaigns, artists’ promotion at a larger scale (like Sfera Ebbasta, C Tangana, ROSALÍA, or Taco Hemingway), and last but not the least, the creation of a team that could facilitate and accelerate this type of support. 

What do you view as the key headwinds that you and the region face?

The real challenge is managing complexity at a large scale. We need to make sure we stay competitive in our most mature markets by acquiring new audiences, refreshing our original and exclusive content slate at a stable pace, owning local music genres as much as we do for global trends (for example, Flamenco Flow in Spain or Disco Polo in Poland), and personalizing the Premium experience in every country. 

At the same time, it’s important not to lose sight of everything happening in countries at an early stage of growth or those still on a fast growth trajectory by fueling that growth with the right amount of resources and investments. We’ve never invested so much in local initiatives in SEE as we’re doing in 2021.

Within your market, what would you say are the most exciting or interesting trends that you’re seeing?

Podcasts are definitely one of the most interesting trends that also had a huge acceleration during the pandemic. Italy and Spain were among the two markets that quarantined first in early March 2020, and during those first few weeks podcast listening went up in those markets. This format is particularly loved by millennials and Gen Z users who identify podcasts as a more humanizing technology and also a better way to fuel self-discovery. In order to provide high-quality content around these topics, we launched three new shows in Spain (X-Rey, AM, and El Rey del Cachopo), plus three originals (Tutto Sanremo ma dura meno, L’Educazione Responsabile, and Complottisti Domestici), and one exclusive format (Demoni Urbani) in Italy in the last few months.

If we took a look at your recently played list, what would we find right now?

I love true crime in general for podcasts, so both Demoni Urbani and the recently launched El Rey del Cachopo are among my favourite titles, along with some of the shows we launched globally, like Renegades: Born in the USA or Dare to Lead with Brené Brown. From a music perspective, I love discovering new hits that I can add to my library, so Release Radar and New Music Friday are my favorite playlists during my spare time.

Stream one of Federica’s favorite Spanish podcasts, El Rey del Cachopo.

5 Questions (and Answers) With Ilia Alekseev, Managing Director, Spotify Russia & CIS

September 29, 2020

For Ilia Alekseev, music has always been a passion. He played the flute as a child and later learned the guitar and drums to be part of a band. Now, as the Managing Director of Spotify Russia & CIS, some of Spotify’s newest markets, he has the opportunity to spread that love for music to listeners in his market and around the world. “Music and the self-expression it embodies help reflect my inner spirit,” says Ilia. “This makes the company’s business very close to me as an individual.”

Ilia takes his role—to create ways to connect artists and listeners and help Spotify become the leading audio platform in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Moldova—seriously. To do that, he plans to adapt Spotify to the local tastes and needs of listeners in the market, as well as work to bring the rich and unique musical culture of Russia to the world.

We took a moment to get to know Ilia and the work he’s done so far.

1. Just a few months ago, Spotify launched in Russia. What was the reaction like?

Russia is one of Spotify’s 92 international markets and has a population of about 140 million people, making it one of our largest markets. Before the launch we did a lot of research and localization work to ensure that our product would match local preferences and expectations for all those users. 

What’s interesting is that the Russian audience had been long awaiting Spotify’s entry in the market, so the day before the launch, we saw high emotional anticipation from listeners on social and messaging apps. On the first day we had tremendous download rates, and the news about Spotify’s launch was so huge that three days after launch, headlines about Spotify were still trending on Russia’s largest news service. 

Yet what’s massively exciting for us is that there’s so much more room to grow in Russia. We’re really focused on doing that.

2. How is Spotify supporting Russian artists, both by way of launch and since then?

During the first days of launch in Russia, we also wanted to make sure listeners got the warm welcome from local artists Little Big, FACE, GONE.Fludd, MARUV, Mot, Nina Kraviz, Mujuice, Sharlot, Levan Gorozia, Klava Koka, Olga Seryabkina, Malbec, Siuzanna, Rauf & Faik, Max Barskikh, Tima Belorusskikh and Noize MC. International artists Katy Perry, Thirty Seconds To Mars, BTS, Imagine Dragons, Hurts, and Twenty One Pilots also joined the celebration of the long-awaited launch in Russia—that felt amazing!

In analyzing the first 30 days listening data, we discovered that BTS was the most popular artist among Russian listeners but that local artists also prevail in the top songs, genres, and artists. For example, MORGENSHTERN took second place, with Scriptonite, kizaru, and Max Korzh following closely.

We really hope that with the arrival of Spotify in Russia we don’t only introduce international artists to the market, but we also allow local artists to expand their international audience. We’re already seeing it happening. Recently, the popular Russian DJ Nina Kraviz was featured in Spotify’s new suite of track ID playlists that were cocurated by Spotify and DJs from all over the world. They’re now available for discovery by 299 million people.

3. How are Spotify’s editorial and algorithmic playlists unique to your market? How did this play into your launch strategy? 

Russia has a long-standing music heritage with various music tastes across the country. Analysis from the first 30 days’ listening data showed that, for example, cities such as Yekaterinburg and Perm clearly have a preference for rock music, and Moscow is more about K-Pop.

Prior to the launch, our music editorial team curated more than 100 playlists specifically for Russia—including Hip-Hop Cannon, Pop Non-Stop, Rock Today, Solaris, Indie Squad, More Fume, and Hits of Russian Rock, among others. We saw that this was the right move—some of the local playlists have since become the most popular among Russian listeners. Locally curated playlist Wind In Your Hair, for example, became the most popular among Russians while they were driving.

4. Spotify is known for its ubiquity—meaning listeners can seamlessly transfer what they’re listening to between devices and platforms. How are you leaning into this strategy in Russia?

We don’t want to corner our listeners into one ecosystem. We want to give them freedom to play music across a wide range of devices and offer app integrations with social media, popular apps, gaming consoles, TV and phone services, top brands, and more. We know that Russia is an Android-first market in terms of smartphones and has its own cultural behaviors, but mobile data is cheaper compared to other markets worldwide, so we expect high mobile usage and engagement from our mainly young audience. We took these factors into account when planning and localizing our ubiquity strategy.

This strategy also allows us to feature country-wide partnerships such as the one we have with MTS, one of the largest mobile carriers in Russia, that can now offer its over 78 million-person audience best-in-class personalized music recommendations with special terms. These kinds of partnerships enable people to try out audio streaming services.

5. Finally, if we were to take a look at your “recently played,” what would we find?

I’m a big fan of our local editorial playlists. I really enjoy Neopop, which helps me to navigate through the new wave of Russian pop music. Last week I felt a bit of nostalgia, so I listened to alternative bands from the ’90s like Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead. And after my 10-year-old son played his Minecraft playlist on my account several times, I discovered some really . . . shall we say “cool?” new artists in my algorithmic playlists.

Get to know Russia’s top hits by streaming one of Ilia’s favorite pop playlists, Neopop

6 Questions (and Answers) with Michael Krause, Managing Director, Spotify Central Europe

September 26, 2019

One of the most-streamed podcasts on Spotify isn’t a daily news update or a true crime saga. It’s Fest & Flauschig, a current-events comedy show hosted by two German radio hosts—in German. The show came to Spotify in its current iteration in May 2016 and is now one of several German podcasts high on Spotify’s global streaming charts.  

On the heels of the release of Spotify Exclusive popular podcasts Herrengedeck and Gemischtes Hack, we sat down with Managing Director, Spotify Central Europe, Michael Krause, to get his thoughts on why German listeners connect with podcasting like no one else.

Earlier this year, we announced our audio-first strategy. Within your market, what would you say are the most exciting or interesting trends that you’re seeing?

Germany was a diverse audio market from the very beginning, with our users listening to both music and audiobooks. That began to pave the way for an audio strategy or an audio focus for us even before it was the global direction.

Now in Germany, there’s a new original podcast episode being released every day. So there has been a lot of habit-forming, or ritualizing. People like to listen at a certain time or while doing a specific chore. Daily podcasts, like what Parcast is doing in the U.S. with Horoscope Today and Today in True Crime, could be very interesting here because podcast listening is such a part of the everyday routine.

We’re also seeing really big talents moving into the medium. And it’s not limited to people who can express themselves visually like streaming stars or TV hosts—it’s also great for authors, for example, who now have a new channel for their creative output.

Finally, I’m excited to see popular podcasts from other markets, like Sandra, be adapted for our German audience. It demonstrates that we can leverage global synergies in the podcast space.

Over the summer you spoke at the Publisher Business Conference in Hamburg, focusing on Spotify as a marketplace for podcast creators. What advantages do you see that we can offer creators that other companies aren’t able to?

We always hear from podcast creators that all the data and insights we give them are very, very helpful. On many other platforms, they don’t know how many streams they have, or at what point people stopped listening during the episodes. We have all the analytical tools for partners. Our creator team was very fast in making Spotify for Podcasters because we learned from Spotify for Artists.

Unlike in the music industry, there is no big podcast community that meets on a regular basis in Germany. This is why we’ve held various master classes and industry events that connect people in the podcasting field. For us, it’s very important that we bring the industry together and provide thought leadership and inspiration for our creator partners. 

What do you think it is about podcasts that makes them so popular among users in Germany?

Many Germans actually grow up listening to audiobooks and audio plays. I peeked a bit into the history, and because the theaters had been bombed after World War II, people had no access to entertainment. Radio then picked up audio plays. Those were very successful, and later they were released on cassettes and CDs. Today, children grow up listening to hours and hours of audio content. Even adults are listening to these audio plays on Spotify to relax, enjoy sweet childhood memories, or fall asleep.

I also think podcasts are successful here because they’re very authentic and truly personal, like Paardiologie with Charlotte Roche for example. I think it touches people in a way that’s more than just watching a video clip or other news formats. So it’s definitely something that is working very well because it feels like you’re part of something intimate and interesting.

What do you view as the primary or key headwinds that you and the market face?

I’d say mobile network connections. It might sound a bit odd because Germany is an industrialized country. But in terms of mobile data, we’re like a developing country. We don’t have mobile data coverage in many parts of the country. And the price for data is also very high.

We’ve spoken a lot about podcasts—what are some surprising music trends in your market?

In the German market, physical music still makes up 35% of revenues, which means people are still buying CDs in Germany. It’s a bit like Japan—we are late-bloomer markets. It’s only been in the last one or two years that we have achieved this level of change from physical to digital music consumption, and only this year that streaming has become the largest source of income for the industry.

Unsurprisingly, German hip-hop is a very important part of the culture, but we are now focusing on more diverse electronic pop and alternative rock genres. That’s why we have also launched a new flagship playlist called OFF POP. But Modus Mio (the equivalent of RapCaviar) is still going very strong, and in fact we’re putting Modus Mio live onstage for the second time with a big event on December 14 in Dortmund.

If we took a look at your recently played list, what would we find right now?

In my commute this morning from Hamburg to Berlin, I listened to the latest episode of Ja Ja Nee Nee, which is one of our newest Spotify Original Podcasts. It has this German author (think a German Nick Hornby) who’s speaking to a younger actor, and they talk about everyday life. They approach their topics in a very philosophical but fun way. So even things like office supply products can become magical topics when discussed by our very special anchors. 

Take a listen to OFF POP, Spotify’s latest flagship focusing on great music outside the mainstream, to get a feel for the current flavor of Central Europe.

6 Questions (And Answers) with Mia Nygren, Managing Director, Spotify Latin America

July 23, 2019

Artists who emerge in Latin America often catch fire around the Spanish-speaking world—and beyond—thanks to streaming (just look at “Despacito”). In the six years since Spotify’s launch in the region, Latin America has quickly become one of Spotify’s fastest-growing music and podcast markets. 

We sat down with Mia Nygren, our Managing Director of Latin America, to learn how streaming spread so rapidly throughout the region, transformed its music industry, and then began to influence the rest of the world. 

Tell us about your professional background, particularly your work in the music industry prior to joining Spotify. How did that prepare you for your current role?

I have seen and been a part of the massive transformation that the music marketplace has experienced in the past 20 years. After university, my first job as a market research consultant for Nordic internet companies brought me to Spain. Then in 2001, I joined a Swedish mobile music creator and distributor of ringtones. It was pretty clear that the technology would improve with time and that labels and publishers would enter the space. From there, I went to Universal Music Group (Spain and Portugal) in 2003 and lived through the sharp decline in physical sales and the consistent growth in digital distribution. After nine years at the label, I moved back to my hometown, Stockholm, to join Spotify.

My time at Universal was invaluable in so many ways, but was particularly helpful at first in driving the Spotify business forward through partnerships with labels—my primary responsibility as Business Development Director in Europe. Moving into my current role, a deep understanding of the music industry and how to identify innovative growth opportunities through content was also key—especially in a part of the world where music consumption is through the roof.