On April 23, 2006, Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon established Spotify, a privately held Swedish supplier of media services including audio streaming. [7] As of September 2022, it had over 456 million monthly active users, including 195 million paid members, making it one of the biggest music streaming service providers. Through a holding company with a Luxembourg City address, Spotify Technology S.A., Spotify is traded on the New York Stock Exchange as American depositary receipts.

More than 82 million songs, including those with digital copyright restrictions, are available on Spotify from record labels and media firms. Basic functions are free with commercials and restricted control as part of a freemium service, however other capabilities like offline listening and commercial-free listening are only available with paid memberships. Users can make, update, and share playlists and search for music based on an artist, album, or genre.

With a total of 184 markets, Spotify is accessible in the majority of Europe, as well as in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania. [9] The majority of devices, including PCs running Windows, macOS, and Linux, mobile phones and tablets running iOS and Android, smart home appliances like the Amazon Echo and Google Nest product lines, and streaming video players like Roku, all support the service.