Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chairman, Spotify Technology
Search every verified Daniel Ek interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In October 2024, Daniel Ek appeared as the first guest on a new long-form interview show hosted by David Senra. During the conversation, Ek discussed his views on leadership and creativity, stating that he judges people on their best idea rather than their worst and that he has a high tolerance for "crazy people." He also said that sustained happiness comes from impact, and that focusing obsessively on one thing for an extended period is what creates greatness. Ek reflected on the early days of Spotify, noting that he and his co-founder worked in their underwear in a hot basement and that he was not concerned with money, but with changing the world to enable more good music. In an April 2024 appearance on the Acquired podcast, Ek discussed Spotify's growth in podcasting and its surpassing of Apple as the world's largest podcast platform. He also spoke about the K-pop industry's approach to artist development and the use of data to identify emerging music trends, such as the rise of Bad Bunny and reggaeton. In earlier interviews, Ek described his early career building websites at age 13, dropping out of the Royal Institute of Technology after eight weeks, and his belief that piracy can be beaten by offering a better product. He stated that selling Spotify was out of the question and that the service could grow much larger.
“I think happiness is a trailing indicator of impact. And uh I think it can be you know you can feel happiness in small burst in small moments uh and you can have a lot of variance in your life. So you can choose to have that part which is the ups the downs of life etc. So I'm not saying you can't have happiness but I t...”
“I do believe that um focusing all your time and effort uh on this one thing um and obsess about it and almost to the point where you're not even aware of the rest of the world that goes on is what creates greatness. Um and I know you can relate to this, but that that's how Spotify came to be. I literally couldn't care...”
“I think the biggest thing that people misunderstand with Napster is that I think Napster was really, if you think about it today, people listen to more music now than ever before and by a bigger diversity of artists. We can no longer, if we go back in time to the 70s or the 80s, we identified ourselves with a certain m...”
“I think the problem is is that they've heard too many sunshine stories in the past where there's been people coming to them and saying, 'Look, we're going to like disrupt your entire industry and you're going to be in a much better place.' But no one's been able to tell them what that better place means. Does that mean...”
“I remember the first time I met one of these executives and then I noticed in the background an iPad. And this was before the iPad was released. So this was one of the very first iPads, before anyone had even seen an iPad. That he had managed to get hold of. Yes, that he had managed to get hold of. So I asked him somet...”
“Yeah, the thing is, my co-founder and I were literally working in our underwear. So it probably wasn't far from that. I suppose I should be glad that those record executives didn't see those days. Instead, met us when we had dressed up a little bit, at least.”
“What really matters to me? What do I enjoy doing? And then it occurred to me that I really loved this sense of creativity. This whole thing about actually doing something, and even if it's just a just in a small way, to change the world. And then, of course, music and technology have always been around. And then it occ...”
“I feel like, there are 500 million people all over the world who listen to music online. It could get a lot bigger—that's what you're saying. Yes, it could get much, much bigger.”
“No way. It's out of the question. I really believe in what we're doing, and we just want to keep doing it. And once again, we started Spotify... I had money to begin with. For me, money wasn't the driving force. The driving force was to see if it was possible to change the world so that people could make more good musi...”
“Europe is overregulated, Europe is too bureaucratic. America is almost giving up on Europe. The world is almost looking down at Europe because people don't get why Europe is not performing better.”
“The most important thing we can do is rectify underinvestment in research and development, especially in science and corporate R&D, to unlock Europe's full potential.”
“Europe has 33 trillion euros in savings sitting on the sidelines, which is about 10 times the US savings. Just 1% of that could more than double Europe's venture capital landscape.”
“Europe underperforms not because of talent but because we haven't built enough software and internet companies at scale like the US or China. We need to focus on where the puck is going, not where it is now.”
“Risk-taking culture in Europe is weaker because failure is often discredited, and second chances are rare. We need to encourage more boldness and resilience in entrepreneurship.”
“Europe's energy regulation is a major barrier, with higher energy prices than the US, which hampers industry and competitiveness. We should invest more in diverse energy sources, including nuclear.”
I started a new show so I can have long-form conversations with the greatest living founders. You can watch on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, X, or the web. The new show is on a separate feed so don't forget to follow David Senra so you don't miss future episodes. Nothing is changing with Founders. I will never stop making that podcast. Thanks for the support!
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…
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