Spotify is a Swedish freemium music streaming service provider founded in April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. As of March 2026, it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services, with over 788 million monthly active users comprising 306 million paying subscribers. Spotify is listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American depositary receipts. Spotify offers DRM-protected audio content, including over 100 million songs, 8 million podcast titles, and 800,000 audiobook titles from record labels and media companies. Operating as a freemium service, the basic features are free with advertisements and limited control, while additional features, such as offline listening and commercial-free listening, are offered via paid subscriptions. Users can search for music based on artist, album, or genre, and can create, edit, and share playlists. It offers some social media features such as messaging, creating profiles, following friends, shared playlists, and creating listening parties called "Jams". As of December 2022, Spotify is available in most of Europe, as well as Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania, with availability in a total of 184 markets.