Spotify CEO Daniel Ek: More revenue than Taylor Swift and Drake together?
Daniel Ek: 345 million dollars on Spotify - who can keep up?
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Spotify CEO Daniel Ek: More revenue than Taylor Swift and Drake together? · Source: Image Press Agency / Alamy Stock Foto
Daniel Ek has made more money from Spotify in the last twelve months than any other artist on the platform. While artists such as Taylor Swift, Drake and Ed Sheeran have racked up billions of streams on Spotify, Ek’s earnings far outstrip theirs. According to royalty accountant Hunter Giles, Ek has earned a whopping $345 million since July 2023 through the sale of shares. This sum is hypothetically equivalent to 115 billion streams, which would make him the world’s most streamed “artist” – if he were one. Some time ago, there was a huge shitstorm against the Spotify CEO by artists worldwide and electronic music producer Deadmau5.
Spotify CEO earns more than top musicians – Daniel Ek beats them all
In his latest report, royalty accountant Hunter Giles compares the income of Spotify’s managers with the number of streams that would be required to achieve that level of income. Daniel Ek is, of course, at the top of the list ($345 million, equivalent to around 115 billion streams), followed by Martin Lorentzon, Spotify’s co-founder, whose share is estimated at $166.8 million, equivalent to 55.6 billion streams.
This would hypothetically make Lorentzon the ninth most streamed artist on the Spotify streaming platform. Alex Norström, Co-President of Spotify, is the 185th most streamed artist of all time with an estimated value of $26.4 million and 8.8 billion streams.
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However, Giles stresses that his analysis is not aimed at condemning Spotify’s executives. Rather, he sees the problem in the “misaligned incentives” of capitalism, which distribute wealth unevenly between stakeholders. Daniel Ek has not received a regular salary from Spotify since 2017, according to company documents, and in 2022 was described as one of the “lowest paid major tech CEOs”. Despite this, he received $1.4 million in “other compensation”.
Of course, Spotify should be seen as a huge company whose executives are definitely paid at the level of comparable CEOs at other global companies. The streaming giant is a very large institution that earns a lot of money, and we know why. However, the bad taste comes from the poor distribution of money to musicians and artists, without whom this platform would certainly not be so successful. As you can see from the example above, even the biggest acts are earning less than the top acts – and that’s exactly what I think needs to be improved. I think you see it the same way – don’t you?
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9 responses to “Spotify CEO Daniel Ek: More revenue than Taylor Swift and Drake together?”
One would say that you do.
Given that you’ve clicked on the article and then taken the time to comment on it.
Thank you for caring so much Daniel.
Thank you so very much.
This POS is the embodiment of greed and evil! Let’s hope that not everyone is a bad shot next time around.
We’ve got a better plan, but the type of world we live in now is full of greedy leeches, who can’t themselves make one decent tune. So we’ll say nothing at all, other than, ‘the greedy have already killed the music, and with AI still to come, you’ll have to find another way, if you want more than the soundtrack of the homogenous chimp’ 😎
And who said it was not possible to make good money on streaming…. 🤣
Ugh, so ignorant to compare a ceo whos job it is to bring more artists in and more users in, to an actual artist.
Its sooo unfair they whine while not mentioning that artists make their gravy if touring, not streaming.
So hard working entrepreneurs shouldn’t be rewarded for pumping Sheeran et al into your intravenous line 24/7?
Yet you still all use Spotify?
How strange and hypocritical..
Nope, I abandoned Spotify when the profit from the shares was used in large amounts for investment in arms manufacturing.
Was premium from day one back a decade and a half ago.
Now spending my dollars on Qobuz, pays out 5 times more to the creators. Not looking back, money earned on music spent on war, can’t be a part of that.
And no, just because a company claims to manufacture defense systems it doesn’t automatically greenwash ir, the purpose is still for using it in a war…
PEACE!!
It’s time someone took what these CEOs Criminally Evil Oligarchs value the most! Their breathing!
Sadly I have to agree w/ Claire and Justice. It’s going to take an act of violence to stop this sort of blind greed, from Ek to Musk to make unconscionable CEO’s understand that people are not going to take it anymore.
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