O'Driscoll: Spotify won by starting in Europe to avoid US label litigation
Rory O'Driscoll · Why VC Today is Worse than 2021 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Oct 23, 2025 · at 16:03
Rory O'Driscoll explains why Spotify succeeded compared to contemporary US-based digital music streaming startups.
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“All the other music startups based in the U.S. Got strangled at birth by lawyers, right, because it was all about IP property rights, and little old Spotify got going in a bunch of European countries that, let's be frank, your average Big Five record label didn't really focus on, so they got a much more attractive licensing deal, while in the U.S. All these guys were wrestling with shitty gross margins and litigation with the music companies, so they got critical mass early on, built an excellent product, And then gradually increase their leverage versus the record companies.”
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