'It ultimately made people realize that music was worth paying for': Spotify's Sten Garmark on how the streaming giant created an entirely new business model, and its mission to convince users that 'there was something better than free'
Exclusive: Spotify talks to us on its 20th birthday
by https://www.techradar.com/uk/author/rowan-davies · TechRadarFeatures By Rowan Davies published 23 April 2026
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Over the past couple of decades we’ve witnessed a whirlwind of cultural changes in the music industry, but also major changes in terms of how we find and listen to music. And there’s arguably one entity that has contributed to these shifts more than any other: Spotify — which was founded 20 years ago today (April 23). Feel old yet? I sure do.
For many music lovers out there, myself included, Spotify was their introduction to music streaming, and over the last 20 years it’s climbed to the top of the ladder, amassing over 750 million users and cementing its position as one of the best music streaming services — and in the eyes of many, the daddy of them all.
However, it’s likely that few of today’s users know much about the company’s early days. Someone who knows more than most is Sten Garmark, Spotify’s Global Head of Consumer Experience, who’s been integral to its evolution since 2011.
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To celebrate this milestone, Garmark and I sat down for an in-depth discussion, reflecting on Spotify’s impact on music over the last 20 years, and on what it took to craft a strong global brand, and reminiscing about its most iconic product features.
Let’s go back to the beginning
As with so many of today’s tech behemoths, from Apple to Amazon, Spotify had to start small, and Garmark remembers the unpredictable nature of the industry at the time it was founded. “The music industry was in free-fall, and it was kind of a dire time,” he tells me. “So the challenge in the beginning was to turn this around.”
In an age where piracy was rife, this became the catalyst for founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon to kick-start what was then a small business. “Daniel and Martin's wild idea was trying to compete with piracy by forming partnerships with the industry, with labels and publishers, to create an entirely new business model for music to convince users that, actually, there was something better than free,” Garmark continues. “It ultimately also made people realize that music was worth paying for.”
These were the days before the modern smartphones really took off — the first iPhone was launched in January 2007 — which Garmark believes is the key to understanding Spotify’s early struggles in terms of scaling its business.
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