Why Spotify emerged in Sweden

I listened to the podcast of a conference of Daniel Ek, co-founder of Spotify, given in 2012 in the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. We all know that Spotify has totally changed the world of music, crushing the traditional value chain of that sector. But surely not everyone remembers that Spotify was born in Sweden. The startup appeared in the middle of the 2000s and launched the service to the market in 2008, initially in Sweden and some other European countries. Later, already in 2011, in the United States.

What did Daniel Ek say at that talk at the Stanford Technology Ventures Program? Among many other things, Daniel said that Spotify emerged in Sweden for one main reason: Swedish broadband was at that time light years away from most countries in the world. When Spotify was being conceptualized, there were commercial offers in Sweden of 1 Giga when the usual connection in many other countries was 1 Mega. This sophisticated technological infrastructure of communications determined in Sweden the appearance of other technological startups, in addition to Spotify.

Despite satellite connections, Internet continues to rely primarily on physical cable connections. In particular, “digital highways” today circulate at the bottom of the oceans. The following map (www.submarinecablemap.com) shows the main routes in the world.

The connection of countries to these major highways and the construction of local roads are fundamental aspects to ensure future competitiveness.

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