Why Spotify Started Out Just as Shady as Napster

Twenty-five years after Napster got shut down, the company that replaced it built its own empire on a strikingly similar shortcut. Tech expert Carmi Levy breaks down how Napster's 80 million users forced the music industry's hand, and how Spotify quietly repeated the same playbook before settling into the legal giant it is today. It's the kind of pattern that shows up again every time a new technology threatens an old business model. There's also a number worth knowing if a song has ever played on the radio: artists in Canada actually get paid per play, while American artists don't, meaning a hit can be worth more across the border than at home. The economics underneath every stream are smaller and stranger than the polished apps make them feel. Carmi lays out exactly where the money goes, and where it still doesn't. The pattern that built Napster and Spotify isn't finished. Someone is already looking for the next way around it. Topics: music piracy history, Spotify legal history, Canadian music royalties, streaming economics, Napster GUEST: Carmi Levy Originally aired on 2026-06-18