15 Years of Spotify

 

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Kristin Robinson

Ask any executive what the music business was like in the ’00s and their face may take on an expression more commonly associated with narrowly averted disasters like car accidents or, more accurately, attempted robberies. Due to peer-to-peer file-sharing platforms like Napster and Limewire, U.S. recorded-music revenues lost more than half their value in the early years of the 21st century, falling precipitously from an all-time high of $14.6 billion in 1999 to $6.7 billion in 2014 and 2015 (according to the RIAA) as songs transitioned from being sold on a physical object like a CD or vinyl to becoming a sound file that could be easily — and illegally — distributed for free. Piracy ran rampant as the music industry failed to come to grips with how quickly and drastically its world had changed. While iTunes brought some stability to a business model in freefall, in essence an entire generation grew up believing that it didn’t have to pay for music.

But streaming, led by Spotify, the brainchild of Swedish entrepreneurs Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon, changed all that. Founded in Stockholm on April 23, 2006, and seeking a solution to the industry’s piracy problem, the on-demand audio-streaming service was built on the understanding that consumers who aren’t inclined to buy a specific album or song might be willing to pay for ease of access to a large library of music. For a $9.99 monthly fee (or free to those who don’t mind sitting through dozens of groove-busting advertisements), the site is an open archive, easily searchable and replete with more music than anyone could play in a lifetime. The company’s U.S. launch in July 2011 opened the floodgates, and Apple Music’s streaming service debuted four years later.

How completely has streaming transformed the music world? The platform rose from 7% of the U.S. market in 2010 to a whopping 83% by the end of 2020 — and recorded-music revenues saw their fifth consecutive year of growth, topping $12.2 billion, per the RIAA. It’s no understatement to say that streaming saved the record- ed-music business, and that global market leader Spotify led the charge toward the stability and growth that the industry is enjoy- ing today. In honor of the game-changing digital service provider’s 15th anniversary, Variety breaks down 15 innovations, transformations, modifications and other ways Spotify has changed how people consume music and brought new functionalities to its platform.

Seguir leyendo: Variety

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