Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon created Spotify, a major provider of media services including audio streaming, in Sweden on April 23, 2006. With 220 million paid customers as of June 2023, it boasts over 551 million monthly active users. More than 100 million songs and five million podcasts, all with copyright restrictions, are available on Spotify, a platform run by record labels and media firms. The service has a freemium business model in which extra capabilities, such as offline listening and commercial-free listening, are only available through paid memberships. Basic services are free with limited control and commercials.

There are 184 markets worldwide where the platform is usable, including most of Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania. The US and Europe make up about 53% of its user base and 67% of its revenue, and these two regions also account for the majority of its users. In addition to computers running Windows, macOS, and Linux, iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, smart home appliances like the Amazon Echo and Google Nest, and digital media players like Roku are all compatible with Spotify's service.

The music industry has never seen a financial model like Spotify's. Spotify pays royalties depending on the percentage of artist streams to all songs streamed, as opposed to physical or digital sales, which pay artists a set amount for each song or album sold. It gives away about 70% of its overall income to rights holders, frequently record labels, who subsequently pay artists based on specific contracts. The way consumers access and enjoy music and podcasts has changed as a result of this strategy, which has allowed Spotify to grow to become one of the world's leading music streaming service providers.