Spotify

Spotify is an audio streaming subscription service founded in 2006 and operating in 184 markets worldwide. The company's platform carries more than 100 million tracks, 7 million podcast titles and 500,000 audiobooks, and reaches 751 million users, of whom 290 million are paying subscribers. It was built as a legal alternative to music piracy and also pays rights holders so that artists can earn a living from their work.

The product range spans three formats: music streaming, Spotify Podcasts and Spotify Audiobooks. Underlying them is a single platform for discovering and listening to audio, with technology work concentrated in audio streaming, digital media delivery, content recommendation, music discovery and platform engineering. Discovery and recommendation are central to the listening experience, which is built around connecting artists with audiences at scale.

Spotify describes its mission as unlocking the potential of human creativity. The stated aims are to enable a million creative artists to live off their art and to let billions of fans enjoy and be inspired by it. The company positions itself as listener-centric and as continuing to push the boundaries of audio streaming across music, podcasts and audiobooks.