Spotify Is ‘Cash Flow Positive,’ says CEO Ek, Admits Hate Policy Handled Badly

Spotify CEO Daniel EK has now publicly admitted that the company handled the implementation of its new "hate content and hateful conduct" policy badly. More surprising was how the founder and CEO says that he views profitability at the music streamer.

Though intended to offer transparency, Spotify's new "hateful conduct" policy has drawn criticism as censorship, with some artists, including Kendrick Lamar, threatening to pull their own music off the streamer.

"The whole goal with this was to make sure that we didn't have hate speech on the service. It was never about punishing one individual," Ek told the Code Conference audience last night. "We rolled this out wrong and we could have done a much better job," adding that there was "too much ambiguity" in how the policy was communicated.

The founder and CEO also talked about the company's cultural differences and why they chose such an unusual path to a public offering.

"We've been cash flow positive for a bunch of quarters."

When asked about how Spotify can ever become a profitable company, EK responded that he viewed success at the company differently. "I think about cash flow as one of the primary metrics, and we've been cash flow positive for a bunch of quarters."

"As long as that's the cash, we don't have to go back to the markets to keep funding the company," Ek continued. Adding that since "we're in the early innings," Spotify would continue to invest in growth.