New Talent. New Methods. New Rhythms.
It was my kids who encouraged me to up my Spotify game. They were spending hours each day on the service, using the free tier to listen to everything from the Hamilton soundtrack to Korean pop music to classic rock. I eventually upgraded us to a family premium plan so we could all download and enjoy our favorites, ad-free, without using up cellular data or needing to be near a Wi-Fi hot spot. Spotify is now such a part of my routine—it fuels my weekend run, provides the soundtrack for singalongs in the car, and feeds me podcasts for my daily commute—that I sometimes forget how improbable its rise was. In his revealing cover story, writer (and former Fast Company editor) Robert Safian reminds us of Spotify’s humble origins, and how,…