Spotify: A Product Story
It’s one thing to imagine the future of audio, quite another to actually build it. Joined by guests from music, business, and tech, Spotify’s Gustav Söderström delves into the art and science of product strategy and development. Hear lessons from inside the world’s most popular streaming audio service. Learn more
00: The most epic battle in music history
Setting the stage for an audio revolution. Guests: Sean Parker, Lars Ulrich, Matthew Ball, Daniel Ek.
01: How do you steal from a pirate?
The first Spotify product. Guests: Daniel Ek, Ludde Strigeus, Sophia Bendz, Michelle Kadir.
02: How do you charge for nothing?
The paid mobile app. Guests: Mattias Arrelid, Petra Hansson, Kenneth Park.
03: This party's going to end
The new free tier. Guests: Sten Garmark, Charlie Hellman, Mary Meeker, Babar Zafar.
04: Human vs Machine
Editorial + Algorithmic = Algotorial. Guests: Tony Jebara, Ajay Kalia, Andrew Ng, Oskar Stål, Meg Tarquinuo.
05: When your winning bet becomes your losing bet
Moving to the cloud. Guests: Nicole Bouchard, Daniel Ek, Emil Fredriksson, Urs Hölzle, Tyson Singer.
06: Hardware is hard
Spotify Connect — a media protocol for speakers. Guests: Nicole Borrow, Thomas Cullen, Sten Garmark.
07: Spotify’s podcast bet
Podcasts — the first second product. Guests: Daniel Ek, Dawn Ostroff, Sten Garmark.
08: When to build vs buy — and when to open source
Backstage and our open source bet. Guests: Jeremiah Lowin, Pia Nilsson, Tyson Singer.
09: Building the future of audio
Brand new formats. Guests: Michael Mignano, Nir Zicherman, Howard Akumiah, Maya Prohovnik.
Chief R &D Officer, Spotify Gustav Söderström is Spotify’s Chief Research & Development Officer. He oversees the product, design, data, and engineering teams at Spotify and is responsible for Spotify’s product strategy. Mr. Söderström is also an entrepreneur and investor who has founded and sold startups in the technology space, including 13th Lab, a computer vision startup that he co-founded which was acquired by Facebook’s Oculus in 2014. Mr. Söderström also co-founded and served as Chief Executive Officer of messaging startup Kenet Works which was acquired by Yahoo!, where he has previously worked as director of product and business development for Yahoo! Mobile from 2006 to 2009. Mr. Söderström holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from KTH Royal Institute of Technology and was voted the KTH Alumni of the year in 2019.