Day two of Le Web and I’m hard at work: perched on the edge of a gigantic bed in the speakers’ lounge, having an important meeting with my friend Andy. Our agenda: trying to come up with amusing ways to fuck with Daniel Ek of Spotify.
Ek (pronounced “Eek” - he’s Swedish) recently became our favourite comedy target after we heard a Spotify employee telling a girl that he sometimes acts as Ek’s (”Eek’s”) bodyguard at important gatherings. Just think about that for a moment, and reflect on the peculiar kind of ego you’d need to possess to fear kidnap when you’re hemorrhaging money at the rate Spotify is. What on earth does Ek (”Eek”) think they’re going to demand as a ransom? Equity? Unmarked hype?
And so, like all right thinking Brits, the moment Andy and I heard that story, we knew it was our duty to mess with him. Our brilliantly simple plan? We’d spread the rumour that Daniel Ek’s name is actually pronounced Daniel Eek. (”He’s Swedish”)
We were just starting to figure out how we’d actually kick off the rumour when we were interrupted by Arrington, who had been sitting on an adjacent bed, engaged in an important meeting of his own. “Hey, come and see this,” he shouted to me, in the way people who think you work for them do.