We sit down with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek live in Stockholm at Spotify’s amazing HQ studio (check out the video version of this episode — which plays natively on Spotify!). This was an incredibly special and timely conversation: for those who haven’t been paying attention over the past few years, after revolutionizing music Spotify has now ALSO completely transformed our own industry in podcasting. Starting from way behind with ~zero market share in 2018, Spotify has now aggregated the listener market and amazingly surpassed Apple as the world’s largest podcast platform — including close to home with the Acquired audience, where it has 60%+ market share among you all!We discuss the origins of this “second act” strategy with Daniel, the vision to move from a music company to an audio company, and what’s coming next with Spotify’s entry into Audiobooks. And of course we relive some key moments from the Acquired canon that Daniel was involved in, including his pivotal conversations with Taylor Swift and her team convincing her to come back to streaming following the release of 1984. Tune in!LinksFollow Daniel on TwitterSponsors:WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentryServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore Acquired!:Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLCNote: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
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It is impossible to flawlessly execute a podcast of this style, and that's the beauty of it. You come up with a bunch of stuff you want to talk about, and then you end up having a real organic conversation, and then it turns into a product, and that product is totally different than what you envisioned in your head, but can still be great.
But I think the amazing thing is, unlike you talking to a journalist, et cetera, it's truly a conversation one. And the second part is there's enough time to actually elaborate on the thought and the idea. Whereas you have to be so succinct in how you express your idea and truly get it across in 30 seconds, or like you lose the moment and the journalists want to move on.
Brian Chesky is an example. He's like the master on it. He just switches it on and he's like so good. For some reason, he and I always end up getting on the same panels. And I'm like, it's game over even before it started. You're going to have all the great stuff.
Who got the truth? Is it you? Is it you? Is it you? Who got the truth now? Is it you? Is it you? Is it you? Sit me down. Say it straight. Another story on the way.
Welcome to this episode of Acquired,
That's crazy. Spotify also has over 500 million monthly active listeners, over 200 million of which are paid subscribers. Both of those numbers are bonkers.
And in today's conversation, we're talking about one, how Spotify managed to get to this 500 million number by stacking all these different expansion strategies on top of each other over the years. And two, we're going to dive into the current moment that Spotify is in.
They've entered podcasting in a huge way that has not only changed the experience for consumers, but Spotify's business and their future as a company, which is, of course, very interesting to David and I as Acquired's growth has really exploded on Spotify.
Totally. As I think we referenced early on in our conversation with Daniel, over 60% of Acquired's audience is now on Spotify, which is up from basically zero four years ago.
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