Ek studied engineering at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology before dropping out to focus on his IT career.
Gallery of Daniel Ek
Stockholm, Sweden
Ek graduated from the Royal Institute of Technology (sv) in Sundbyberg in 2002.
Career
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2011
New York City, United States
Spotify Founder and CEO Daniel Ek and Rolling Stone Head of Digital Content Bill Crandall attend Spotify knocks it out of the park at Stephen Weiss Studio on November 30, 2011 in New York City.
(Nov. 29, 2011 - Source: Charles Eshelman/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2011
New York City, United States
Spotify Founder and CEO Daniel Ek attends Spotify knocks it out of the park at Stephen Weiss Studio on November 30, 2011 in New York City.
(Nov. 29, 2011 - Source: Charles Eshelman/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2011
San Francisco, California, United States
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek makes an appearance during a keynote address by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the Facebook f8 conference on September 22, 2011 in San Francisco, California. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg kicked off the conference introducing a Timeline feature to the popular social network.
(Sept. 21, 2011 - Source: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2013
New York City, United States
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek announces that the online streaming music service will expand to 20 new markets around the world and that it has worked out a deal with Led Zeppelin, which had so far refused to license its catalog for streaming on the service on December 11, 2013 in New York City. The new markets will include a number of countries in Europe and South and Central America and the music service will now allow free streaming to mobile devices.
(Dec. 10, 2013 - Source: Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2014
New York City, United States
Uber Co-Founder & CEO Travis Kalanick and Spotify Founder & CEO Daniel Ek announced a new partnership enabling users to soundtrack their Uber ride. The Uber-Spotify integration will kick off this Friday, November 21st in 10 cities across the globe with artist ride-alongs and exclusive live sessions featuring Andrew W.K., The Sam Willows, Ximena Sariñana, Ansiktet, Professor Green, Diplo, Matt and Kim, Ricki Lee, Kevin Drew and Jake Owen on November 17, 2014 in New York City.
(Nov. 16, 2014 - Source: Thos Robinson/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2014
New York City, United States
Uber Co-Founder & CEO Travis Kalanick and Spotify Founder & CEO Daniel Ek announced a new partnership enabling users to soundtrack their Uber ride. The Uber-Spotify integration will kick off this Friday, November 21st in 10 cities across the globe with artist ride-alongs and exclusive live sessions featuring Andrew W.K., The Sam Willows, Ximena Sariñana, Ansiktet, Professor Green, Diplo, Matt and Kim, Ricki Lee, Kevin Drew and Jake Owen on November 17, 2014 in New York City.
(Nov. 16, 2014 - Source: Thos Robinson/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2014
San Francisco, California, United States
(L-R) Spotify Founder and CEO Daniel Ek, Media Executive Tom Freston, Azoff MSG Entertainment LLC Chairman and .CEO Irving Azoff speaks onstage during “You Want Another Revolution?” at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on October 8, 2014 in San Francisco, California.
(Oct. 7, 2014 - Source: Michael Kovac/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2015
New York City, United States
Daniel Ek, Founder and CEO, Spotify speaks onstage at Spotify Press Announcement on May 20, 2015 in New York City.
(May 19, 2015 - Source: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2015
New York City, United States
Daniel Ek, Founder and CEO, Spotify speaks onstage at Spotify Press Announcement on May 20, 2015 in New York City.
(May 19, 2015 - Source: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2015
New York City, United States
Daniel Ek, CEO and Founder of Spotify, speaks at a media event announcing updates to the music streaming application Spotify on May 20, 2015 in New York City. The latest updates include the ability to stream video content, podcasts and radio programs as well as original songs for the application.
(May 19, 2015 - Source: Andrew Burton/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2015
New York City, United States
Daniel Ek, CEO and Founder of Spotify, speaks at a media event announcing updates to the music streaming application Spotify on May 20, 2015 in New York City. The latest updates include the ability to stream video content, podcasts and radio programs as well as original songs for the application.
(May 19, 2015 - Source: Andrew Burton/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2015
New York City, United States
Daniel Ek, CEO and Founder of Spotify, speaks at a media event announcing updates to the music streaming application Spotify on May 20, 2015 in New York City. The latest updates include the ability to stream video content, podcasts and radio programs as well as original songs for the application.
(May 19, 2015 - Source: Andrew Burton/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2017
Moffett Blvd, Mountain View, CA 94035, USA
Co-Founder/CEO of Spotify Daniel Ek attends the 2018 Breakthrough Prize at NASA Ames Research Center on December 3, 2017 in Mountain View, California.
(Dec. 2, 2017 - Source: Jesse Grant/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2017
Moffett Blvd, Mountain View, CA 94035, USA
Actress Bryce Dallas Howard and CEO of Spotify Daniel Ek speak onstage during the 2017 Breakthrough Prize at NASA Ames Research Center on December 4, 2016 in Mountain View, California.
(Source: Kimberly White/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2018
620 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217, USA
Founder and CEO of Spotify, Daniel Ek, speaks at the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event where Samsung announced its partnership with Spotify at Barclays Center, Brooklyn on August 9, 2018 in New York City.
(Aug. 8, 2018 - Source: Monica Schipper/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2018
620 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217, USA
Founder and CEO of Spotify, Daniel Ek, joins President and CEO of IT and Mobile Communications at Samsung Electronics, DJ Koh, to announce a partnership between the two brands at the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event at Barclays Center, Brooklyn on August 9, 2018 in New York City.
(Aug. 8, 2018 - Source: Monica Schipper/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2018
620 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217, USA
Daniel Ek, chief executive officer of Spotify, speaks about a partnership between Samsung and Spotify during a product launch event at the Barclays Center, August 9, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The new Galaxy Note 9 smartphone will go on sale on August 24.
(Aug. 8, 2018 - Source: Drew Angerer/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2018
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States
(L-R) Daniel Ek, co-founder and chief executive officer of Spotify, and wife Sofia Ek arrive for a morning session of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 11, 2018 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Every July, some of the world's most wealthy and powerful businesspeople from the media, finance, technology and political spheres converge at the Sun Valley Resort for the exclusive weeklong conference.
(July 10, 2018 - Source: Drew Angerer/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2018
6 St Johns Ln, New York, NY 10013, USA
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Spotify Daniel Ek speaks onstage during Spotify Investor Day at Spring Studios on March 15, 2018 in New York City.
(March 14, 2018 - Source: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2018
6 St Johns Ln, New York, NY 10013, USA
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Spotify Daniel Ek speaks onstage during Spotify Investor Day at Spring Studios on March 15, 2018 in New York City.
(March 14, 2018 - Source: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2018
550 Washington St, New York, NY 10014, USA
Daniel Ek, Sofia Ek and Nick Jonas attend "The Minefield Girl" Audio Visual Book Launch at Lightbox on January 31, 2018 in New York City.
(Jan. 30, 2018 - Source: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2018
550 Washington St, New York, NY 10014, USA
Daniel Ek and John Legend attends "The Minefield Girl" Audio Visual Book Launch at Lightbox on January 31, 2018 in New York City.
(Jan. 30, 2018 - Source: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2018
550 Washington St, New York, NY 10014, USA
Chris Rock, Sofia Ek, Emmy Rossum and Daniel EK attend "The Minefield Girl" Audio Visual Book Launch at Lightbox on January 31, 2018 in New York City.
(Jan. 30, 2018 - Source: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2018
550 Washington St, New York, NY 10014, USA
Jared Leto and Spotify CEO and founder, Daniel Ek attend "Spotify's Best New Artist Party" at Skylight Clarkson on January 25, 2018 in New York City.
(Jan. 24, 2018 - Source: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2018
550 Washington St, New York, NY 10014, USA
(L-R) Sofia Ek, Alessia Cara and Spotify CEO Daniel Ek attend "Spotify's Best New Artist Party" at Skylight Clarkson on January 25, 2018 in New York City.
(Jan. 24, 2018 - Source: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2018
550 Washington St, New York, NY 10014, USA
Musician Julia Michaels, Spotify CEO and Founder Daniel Ek, Khalid, and Spotify Global Head of Creative Services, Troy Carter attend "Spotify's Best New Artist Party" at Skylight Clarkson on January 25, 2018 in New York City.
(Jan. 24, 2018 - Source: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2018
550 Washington St, New York, NY 10014, USA
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and Keith Urban attend "Spotify's Best New Artist Party" at Skylight Clarkson on January 25, 2018 in New York City.
(Jan. 24, 2018 - Source: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Daniel Ek
2018
550 Washington St, New York, NY 10014, USA
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and Christian Casey Combs attend "Spotify's Best New Artist Party" at Skylight Clarkson on January 25, 2018 in New York City.
(Jan. 24, 2018 - Source: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images North America)
Achievements
2012
Daniel Ek On The Cover Of Forbes
Membership
Awards
Most powerful person in the music industry by Billboard.
Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world
Spotify Founder and CEO Daniel Ek and Rolling Stone Head of Digital Content Bill Crandall attend Spotify knocks it out of the park at Stephen Weiss Studio on November 30, 2011 in New York City.
(Nov. 29, 2011 - Source: Charles Eshelman/Getty Images North America)
Spotify Founder and CEO Daniel Ek attends Spotify knocks it out of the park at Stephen Weiss Studio on November 30, 2011 in New York City.
(Nov. 29, 2011 - Source: Charles Eshelman/Getty Images North America)
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek makes an appearance during a keynote address by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the Facebook f8 conference on September 22, 2011 in San Francisco, California. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg kicked off the conference introducing a Timeline feature to the popular social network.
(Sept. 21, 2011 - Source: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America)
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek announces that the online streaming music service will expand to 20 new markets around the world and that it has worked out a deal with Led Zeppelin, which had so far refused to license its catalog for streaming on the service on December 11, 2013 in New York City. The new markets will include a number of countries in Europe and South and Central America and the music service will now allow free streaming to mobile devices.
(Dec. 10, 2013 - Source: Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America)
Uber Co-Founder & CEO Travis Kalanick and Spotify Founder & CEO Daniel Ek announced a new partnership enabling users to soundtrack their Uber ride. The Uber-Spotify integration will kick off this Friday, November 21st in 10 cities across the globe with artist ride-alongs and exclusive live sessions featuring Andrew W.K., The Sam Willows, Ximena Sariñana, Ansiktet, Professor Green, Diplo, Matt and Kim, Ricki Lee, Kevin Drew and Jake Owen on November 17, 2014 in New York City.
(Nov. 16, 2014 - Source: Thos Robinson/Getty Images North America)
Uber Co-Founder & CEO Travis Kalanick and Spotify Founder & CEO Daniel Ek announced a new partnership enabling users to soundtrack their Uber ride. The Uber-Spotify integration will kick off this Friday, November 21st in 10 cities across the globe with artist ride-alongs and exclusive live sessions featuring Andrew W.K., The Sam Willows, Ximena Sariñana, Ansiktet, Professor Green, Diplo, Matt and Kim, Ricki Lee, Kevin Drew and Jake Owen on November 17, 2014 in New York City.
(Nov. 16, 2014 - Source: Thos Robinson/Getty Images North America)
(L-R) Spotify Founder and CEO Daniel Ek, Media Executive Tom Freston, Azoff MSG Entertainment LLC Chairman and .CEO Irving Azoff speaks onstage during “You Want Another Revolution?” at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on October 8, 2014 in San Francisco, California.
(Oct. 7, 2014 - Source: Michael Kovac/Getty Images North America)
Daniel Ek, Founder and CEO, Spotify speaks onstage at Spotify Press Announcement on May 20, 2015 in New York City.
(May 19, 2015 - Source: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images North America)
Daniel Ek, Founder and CEO, Spotify speaks onstage at Spotify Press Announcement on May 20, 2015 in New York City.
(May 19, 2015 - Source: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images North America)
Daniel Ek, CEO and Founder of Spotify, speaks at a media event announcing updates to the music streaming application Spotify on May 20, 2015 in New York City. The latest updates include the ability to stream video content, podcasts and radio programs as well as original songs for the application.
(May 19, 2015 - Source: Andrew Burton/Getty Images North America)
Daniel Ek, CEO and Founder of Spotify, speaks at a media event announcing updates to the music streaming application Spotify on May 20, 2015 in New York City. The latest updates include the ability to stream video content, podcasts and radio programs as well as original songs for the application.
(May 19, 2015 - Source: Andrew Burton/Getty Images North America)
Daniel Ek, CEO and Founder of Spotify, speaks at a media event announcing updates to the music streaming application Spotify on May 20, 2015 in New York City. The latest updates include the ability to stream video content, podcasts and radio programs as well as original songs for the application.
(May 19, 2015 - Source: Andrew Burton/Getty Images North America)
Co-Founder/CEO of Spotify Daniel Ek attends the 2018 Breakthrough Prize at NASA Ames Research Center on December 3, 2017 in Mountain View, California.
(Dec. 2, 2017 - Source: Jesse Grant/Getty Images North America)
Actress Bryce Dallas Howard and CEO of Spotify Daniel Ek speak onstage during the 2017 Breakthrough Prize at NASA Ames Research Center on December 4, 2016 in Mountain View, California.
(Source: Kimberly White/Getty Images North America)
Founder and CEO of Spotify, Daniel Ek, speaks at the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event where Samsung announced its partnership with Spotify at Barclays Center, Brooklyn on August 9, 2018 in New York City.
(Aug. 8, 2018 - Source: Monica Schipper/Getty Images North America)
Founder and CEO of Spotify, Daniel Ek, joins President and CEO of IT and Mobile Communications at Samsung Electronics, DJ Koh, to announce a partnership between the two brands at the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event at Barclays Center, Brooklyn on August 9, 2018 in New York City.
(Aug. 8, 2018 - Source: Monica Schipper/Getty Images North America)
Daniel Ek, chief executive officer of Spotify, speaks about a partnership between Samsung and Spotify during a product launch event at the Barclays Center, August 9, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The new Galaxy Note 9 smartphone will go on sale on August 24.
(Aug. 8, 2018 - Source: Drew Angerer/Getty Images North America)
(L-R) Daniel Ek, co-founder and chief executive officer of Spotify, and wife Sofia Ek arrive for a morning session of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 11, 2018 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Every July, some of the world's most wealthy and powerful businesspeople from the media, finance, technology and political spheres converge at the Sun Valley Resort for the exclusive weeklong conference.
(July 10, 2018 - Source: Drew Angerer/Getty Images North America)
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Spotify Daniel Ek speaks onstage during Spotify Investor Day at Spring Studios on March 15, 2018 in New York City.
(March 14, 2018 - Source: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images North America)
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Spotify Daniel Ek speaks onstage during Spotify Investor Day at Spring Studios on March 15, 2018 in New York City.
(March 14, 2018 - Source: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images North America)
Daniel Ek, Sofia Ek and Nick Jonas attend "The Minefield Girl" Audio Visual Book Launch at Lightbox on January 31, 2018 in New York City.
(Jan. 30, 2018 - Source: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images North America)
Daniel Ek and John Legend attends "The Minefield Girl" Audio Visual Book Launch at Lightbox on January 31, 2018 in New York City.
(Jan. 30, 2018 - Source: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images North America)
Chris Rock, Sofia Ek, Emmy Rossum and Daniel EK attend "The Minefield Girl" Audio Visual Book Launch at Lightbox on January 31, 2018 in New York City.
(Jan. 30, 2018 - Source: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images North America)
Jared Leto and Spotify CEO and founder, Daniel Ek attend "Spotify's Best New Artist Party" at Skylight Clarkson on January 25, 2018 in New York City.
(Jan. 24, 2018 - Source: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images North America)
(L-R) Sofia Ek, Alessia Cara and Spotify CEO Daniel Ek attend "Spotify's Best New Artist Party" at Skylight Clarkson on January 25, 2018 in New York City.
(Jan. 24, 2018 - Source: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images North America)
Musician Julia Michaels, Spotify CEO and Founder Daniel Ek, Khalid, and Spotify Global Head of Creative Services, Troy Carter attend "Spotify's Best New Artist Party" at Skylight Clarkson on January 25, 2018 in New York City.
(Jan. 24, 2018 - Source: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images North America)
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and Keith Urban attend "Spotify's Best New Artist Party" at Skylight Clarkson on January 25, 2018 in New York City.
(Jan. 24, 2018 - Source: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images North America)
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and Christian Casey Combs attend "Spotify's Best New Artist Party" at Skylight Clarkson on January 25, 2018 in New York City.
(Jan. 24, 2018 - Source: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images North America)
Daniel Ek is a Swedish entrepreneur who in 2006 cofounded Spotify, an Internet music-streaming service that provides listeners with legal, ad-supported access to millions of songs, rejecting traditional models of downloading and eliminating per-song costs.
Background
Ek was born on February 21,1983, in Rågsved, Stockholm, Sweden.
Daniel grew up with a father who was out of the picture early on, with his mother Elisabet, his stepfather Hasse and younger brother Felix, under conditions that he described on the radio the summer before last as “An average Swede. We didn't have much money".
His grandmother was an opera singer, her husband a jazz pianist and on the wall at home in Rågsved hung a classic Spanish, nylon string guitar.
Education
At the age of four, Daniel learned to play simple songs on his family's Spanish guitar. His former music teacher from elementary school described Ek as a gifted singer and guitarist.
In secondary school Ek was given the chance to combine two of his favourite subjects, music and technology. He installed the Internet at the Oasen youth club, where the story of Joakim Thåström' and his punkband 'Ebba Grön' once started, created websites for his friends and built bands with a hint of Britpop.
After three years at the IT college in Sundbyberg with top grades in eleven subjects, among them English, religion and datacom, Daniel Ek applies to study engineering at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, but left after just eight weeks when he realised that the first year is all about theoretical mathematics.
Ek created Web sites for businesses and ran Web hosting services out of his bedroom. He worked for several Web-based companies before founding Advertigo, an online marketing firm that he sold in 2006 to the Swedish company Tradedoubler. He then established Spotify with Tradedoubler’s cofounder, Martin Lorentzon, and became CEO. Ek’s innovative business model for providing access to music online differed from other services in that it did not involve charging for song downloads. Spotify customers could listen to online streaming music for free if they were willing to allow display or audio advertising. For $5 or $10 a month in subscription fees, however, consumers could avoid the advertisements.
From the outset, the music industry expressed little enthusiasm for Ek’s innovation, because Spotify’s license to stream music earned the industry far less revenue per song than it got from a music download service such as Apple Inc.’s iTunes. Ek retorted that Spotify discouraged online music piracy by providing a low-cost alternative and that the service would, over time, generate substantial royalties for the music industry. Despite such reservations, Spotify launched in 2008 and quickly became popular with both users and investors. By 2010 venture capital money was beginning to flow in to Spotify, and some analysts estimated that the service’s potential value was as much as $4 billion. In 2012 Spotify had 18 million songs and more than 20 million monthly active users, though not all were paying subscribers. Five years later, however, the site featured more than 35 million songs and had nearly 160 million monthly active users, more than 70 million of whom were subscribers. Amid this incredible growth, Ek oversaw Spotify’s initial public offering in April 2018. In an unusual move, the company offered no new stock, and instead only existing shares were made available. After the first day of trading, Spotify had a market value of about $27 billion.
Daniel Ek is best known for Spotify, a mobile phone music service that gives access to a huge database of artist tunes. His sales force is present in San Francisco, Denmark, France and the Netherlands, and a dozen more countries where he offers his services. Ek has become an important name in the industry of music. He is passionate about music, and has contributed towards it in his own ways.
In 2017, Daniel Ek was named as the most powerful person in the music industry by Billboard. He became one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2017.
(Spotify is a music streaming platform developed by Swedis...)
Politics
In 2016, Ek and fellow Spotify co-founder Martin Lorentzon wrote an open letter on the blogging platform Medium to the Swedish government saying that if certain changes to Swedish law regarding housing, taxation, and education are not made Spotify will be forced to re-locate from the country. More specifically, Ek claims that the high taxes in Sweden on stock options makes it difficult to incentivize programmers to work at startups when startups have trouble competing with larger companies on salary. Moreover, Ek claims Swedish permitting policy is overly restrictive limiting the supply of affordable housing. Opponents of Ek, however, have argued Spotify is hypocritically moving many jobs to New York City which has many of the same affordability issues.
Views
In recent years he has become more and more involved in charity. In an interview with Swedish business periodical Veckans Affärer last year, he revealed that he had donated a million Swedish kronor and a further two million that he had raised amongst his friends for organisation Charity Water, whose goal it is to provide clean, safe water to the 800 million people who are currently without it. After having rewritten the musical world map, he is convinced that it is possible to change the world as a whole.
Quotations:
Ek said he "realised that you can never legislate away from piracy. Laws can definitely help, but it doesn't take away the problem. The only way to solve the problem was to create a service that was better than piracy and at the same time compensates the music industry – that gave us Spotify.
"Look at Bill Gates. I think people will remember him more for his foundation than for the fact that he created Microsoft. He makes a huge difference! In ten years he has eradicated polio."
Personality
Daniel Ek is often described as shy, but also able to inspire confidence in programmers as well as record label executives. Sources close to him describe Daniel Ek as being gifted in combining understanding of detail with the bigger picture.
His friends are Mark Zuckerberg, Bruno Mars and comedian Chris Rock.
Despite his wealth and fame, Daniel Ek holds on to a simple lifestyle.
Quotes from others about the person
"He has a zen-like patience and an ability to not let the pressure get to him or to get frustrated. Again and again he puts himself in situations where any normal person would have thrown in the towel”, Sean Parker has said about Daniel Ek.
"The only thing that could truly throw Daniel off balance is if his favorite soccer team Arsenal loses," Per Jörgen Pärson, one of Spotify's first angel investors.
"(Daniel) became the most accomplished CEO I have ever worked with, despite him being 20 years my junior. Daniel is and has always been the secret weapon of Spotify," wrote Pär-Jörgen Pärson, an early Spotify investor.
Fredrik Cassel, one of the first investors of Spotify and a partner at Creandum, described Ek's impact on the world of tech: “Looking at Daniel as the CEO of the company, he’s an engineer and a product guy at his roots but with an incredible business mind. So for me - maybe this sounds naive - it opened my mind to the quality of engineers as business leaders. (..) And that was a new one for me. I hadn’t seen that one before - and he was also young, right? Young engineers became backable… or desirable even.”
Interests
His favorite game is Fifa.
Sport & Clubs
Daniel loves football.
Athletes
AIK, Arsenal
Music & Bands
Roxette, Metallica, Beatles, David Bowie, The Clash
Connections
In 2016, Ek married Sofia Levander, his longtime partner, at Lake Como. At Ek's wedding Bruno Mars was invited to perform and Chris Rock officiated; he invited numerous guests, including Mark Zuckerberg. Ek and his wife have two children together, Elissa and Colinne.
Mother:
Elisabet Ek
Spouse:
Sofia Levander
stepfather:
Hasse Ek
Brother:
Felix Ek
Daughter:
Elissa Ek
Daughter:
Colinne Ek
Collegue :
Ludvig Strigeus
Ludvig Strigeus (Ludde) is a Swedish programmer, best known for developing software such as the BitTorrent client µTorrent, OpenTTD, and Spotify.
Collegue :
Martin Lorentzon
(born 1 April 1969)
He is a Swedish entrepreneur and co-founder of Tradedoubler and Spotify. Since 2013, he has been on the board of Telia Sonera.
He is an American technology entrepreneur and philanthropist. Mark is known for co-founding and leading Facebook as its chairman and chief executive officer.
