Starting on January 1, 2026, Spotify will have two new CEOs at the helm. Current CEO Daniel Ek will step aside to become Executive Chair. In his place, Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström will run the streaming giant as co-CEOs.
Söderström and Norström currently hold senior officer positions with the company. They will be stepping up from co-president and chief product and technology officer, and co-president and chief business officer, respectively. Although they will be co-CEOs, they will still report to Ek, according to a report from Pitchfork. They are also slated to join Spotify’s board of directors pending approval.
While this move seems like a shake-up for Spotify’s hierarchy, in reality its daily operations will not change much. According to a statement from the company, the move merely confirms how Spotify has operated since 2023. Specifically, it said, “with the co-presidents largely leading strategic development and operational execution of Spotify.”
Spotify Announces New Co-CEOs, But Daily Operations May Not Change Much
Current Spotify CEO and founder Daniel Ek released his own statement on the change. He noted that this announcement more or less “matches titles to how we already operate.” Ek also stated that he’s already “turned over a large part of the day-to-day management and strategic direction of Spotify to Alex and Gustav.”
Meanwhile, Ek’s new role as Executive Chair is likely to encompass more of a traditional European-like role, according to Spotify. He currently has the power to allocate capital, support senior officer teams, and plan for Spotify’s long-term trajectory. While it seems that he’s been in this role for several years now, January 2026 will make it all official and public. Dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s, as it were.
There has been no official statement in regards to the recent controversy surrounding Spotify, and this changing of the guard is most likely not related. Still, in the past few months, artists have undeniably pulled their music from the platform left and right. Bands like King Gizzard, Xiu Xiu, and Deerhoof intigated the most recent exodus in protest of Daniel Ek’s investments in military AI technology. Hundreds of artists and labels have removed their work from the platform since late June.
Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for Spotify
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