Following Daniel Ek’s transition out of daily leadership, Spotify’s new leaders outlined a bold plan to massively scale the platform’s premium user base.
If Spotify‘s new chief executives have their way, one in every seven people on Earth will be paying to stream music.
Just days after Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek announced he would be stepping away from the company’s daily operations, newly appointed co-Presidents Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström are already offering an ambitious vision for the future of the platform.
Speaking during Spotify’s leadership update call at the end of September, Norström said it’s “not unimaginable that we’ll be at 10%, 15%” of the world’s population paying for Spotify Premium someday.” The exec, who also operates as the streaming giant’s Chief Business Officer, cited massive growth potential in regions such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and across Africa.
That scale would represent a massive leap from Spotify’s current reach, a projection representing roughly 1.2 billion people. As of Q2 2025, the company counts over 276 million paying subscribers worldwide.
“I would obviously echo that,” added Söderström, who also serves as Spotify’s Chief Product & Technology Officer. “I think the opportunity itself and just being in a business that touches everyone—I think it’s larger than any other consumer business in terms of TAM [Total Addressable Market]. It is just exciting… We have a consumer product that touches upwards of 700 million users every month. But it’s still only 3% of the world population that subscribed. So the opportunity is still huge.”
Ek has led Spotify since founding the company in 2006. He recently announced that he is stepping down as CEO and will transition into the role of Executive Chairman effective at the beginning of next year. He described the change as part of a long-planned shift to decentralize leadership, adding that he will continue to focus on “the long arc of the company.”
Following the news of Ek’s transition, Spotify lost nearly $7.5 billion in value after its stock dipped 5.0% to $680.50 for the week ended October 3rd.