Rahul Balyan Completes 5 Years At Spotify, Reflects On Rapid Tech And Music Evolution

Rahul Balyan, Global Business Leader at Spotify, has completed five years at the streaming giant, calling the milestone “unfashionably long by today’s career standards” in a candid LinkedIn post reflecting on growth, disruption, and the accelerating pace of change in tech and music.

Balyan joined Spotify when the platform was just two years old in India. In his post, he noted that during his tenure, Spotify expanded from operating in roughly 90 markets to 187 globally,a scale-up that mirrors the broader transformation of the music industry.

“Five years is a lifetime in music,” he wrote, describing how Spotify has become central to what he termed India’s “artist-first music shift.” He also highlighted the platform’s growing cultural impact across emerging markets, particularly in the Middle East and Africa, pointing to how artists from South African townships and Nigerian colleges are now able to access global audiences.

His reflections extended beyond music to the rapid evolution of technology itself. Balyan described how the tech cycle has compressed dramatically — from changes that once unfolded over decades to paradigm shifts that now occur every few months. Referencing recent breakthroughs in AI tools such as Claude Code, he underscored how exponential innovation is reshaping industries at an unprecedented speed.

“There was a time when you could make reasonable assumptions about the future. It felt linear. Then it became exponential,” he wrote, adding that adapting continuously is the only sustainable strategy.

According to Balyan, maintaining relevance in such an environment requires a “student mindset,” where the rate of learning must exceed the rate of change. He described this adaptability not as a burden, but as the most exciting aspect of working at the intersection of music and technology.

His milestone comes at a time when streaming platforms are navigating rapid shifts driven by artificial intelligence, creator monetisation models, and expanding global markets, developments that are redefining both the business and cultural dynamics of music worldwide.

As Spotify continues to deepen its footprint in India and other emerging territories, leaders like Balyan appear focused less on tenure and more on agility, positioning learning, rather than longevity, as the real marker of success in today’s music-tech ecosystem.