The Importance of Distribution Channels in Music Tech Startups

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PitchBook has all the financing events over the company's history, including pioneering the modern direct listing when Daniel and Barry McCarthy took the company public in 2018 without raising any new capital because they didn't need it. PitchBook is awesome. There's an insane amount of data. You can slice it and dice it in every way possible. So if you want to sign up for PitchBook, they are offering a free week trial for acquired listeners. Go to pitchbook.com slash acquired to get all the details and just tell them that Ben and David at acquired sent you. And then for the first time on a recent episode, we used an AI tool that our editor found it dramatically increased

We sit down with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek live in Stockholm at Spotify’s amazing HQ studio (check out the video version of this episode — which plays natively on Spotify!). This was an incredibly special and timely conversation: for those who haven’t been paying attention over the past few years, after revolutionizing music Spotify has now ALSO completely transformed our own industry in podcasting. Starting from way behind with ~zero market share in 2018, Spotify has now aggregated the listener market and amazingly surpassed Apple as the world’s largest podcast platform — including close to home with the Acquired audience, where it has 60%+ market share among you all!

We discuss the origins of this “second act” strategy with Daniel, the vision to move from a music company to an audio company, and what’s coming next with Spotify’s entry into Audiobooks. And of course we relive some key moments from the Acquired canon that Daniel was involved in, including his pivotal conversations with Taylor Swift and her team convincing her to come back to streaming following the release of 1984. Tune in!

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Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.