This case study investigates the structure and perfomance of Spotifys music streaming platform. Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon founded Spotify in 2006 in Stockholm. The platform grew as a response to rampant online piracy afflicting the music industry. After Napster, LimeWire, and other file-sharing services “disrupted” the traditional music model, Spotify entered in Pandora’s footsteps by offering a free service funded through advertising. However, Spotify’s goal was to funnel users towards an ad-free subscription service. Although Pandora remained the US market leader, globally Spotify’s main rival was Apple Music. Apple cornered a market by securing exclusive deals with popular artists such as Drake, Frank Ocean, and Taylor Swift. Music streaming services operated by licensing content from record labels and independent artists and then paying the artists, songwriters, and labels royalties depending on how often the music was streamed. Some superstars objected to this model, however. As of 2022, this business model remained contentious and unprofitable.

In this epilogue, we give a preview of the topics that we will develop in our next book on platform competition and platform regulation; we also summarize what this book has already taught us about these topics.