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Listen up! Spotify has hit shuffle on its HR leadership team, with company veteran Anna Lundström taking up the post of Chief HR Officer.
To celebrate the appointment, the music streaming platform released an interview with Lundström, who will oversee people strategy for over 7,000 Spotifiers (known internally as bandmates) across the globe.
In her first conversation as CHRO, the HR veteran touched on three key ambitions for her tenure, including to “continue nurturing” Spotify’s most creative minds; to sustain a culture where employees “exercise good judgment and move fast”; and to ensure AI is a “key focus across the organization.”
New Spotify CHRO talks creativity & culture
It was clear from Lundström’s interview that she sees the creativity of Spotify’s workforce as a core cultural strength and competitive advantage for the firm.
“Creativity is infused into everything we do, and that applies to how we approach our employee experience,” she said, noting that it formed the basis for many of Spotify’s most significant HR programs, including Spotify’s ‘Work from Anywhere’ policy. The flexible approach grabbed headlines in late 2024 when outgoing CHRO Katarina Berg declared staff shouldn’t be treated “like children.”
Lundström named creativity as her biggest focus for her tenure. “We pride ourselves on having some of the most creative minds in the business, and my top priority is to continue nurturing this,” she continued. “This means setting bandmates up for success by opening new doors to explore creativity and deliver tangible impact, whatever your role.”
To ensure that creativity is protected, Spotify’s new CHRO indicated that nurturing a culture of fun, high trust, and hard work will be another core objective.
“Our culture is built on giving our bandmates runway to exercise good judgment and move fast wherever they sit, whatever their title,” she explained. “It’s easy to fall into the trap of the “gravity of mediocrity” in our day-to-day work and let comfort and routine inhibit creativity… fighting against that routine and challenging the norm is invaluable to our mission, no matter what team someone is on or what their title is.”
In April, Spotify announced plans for a ‘culture refresh,’ a company-wide check-in to establish how employees align with its sense of purpose, culture, and mission.
AI adoption ‘also a top priority’ at Spotify
No HR executive conversation about future workplace plans would be complete without touching on AI, particularly at a tech-driven organization like Spotify. Lundström did not disappoint.
“To me, aligning our people strategy with product and business goals is key for a sustainable and genuine people experience,” Spotify’s CHRO said. “That’s why ensuring AI is a key focus across the organization is also a top priority… we’re focused on embedding that more deeply in our daily work across our entire organization—from engineers to marketers to HR business partners.”
While she stated that Spotify is “always changing and improving,” Lundström did not delve into specifics on how expanded AI usage could impact jobs at the firm, as other top business executives (Moderna, IBM, Shopify) indicate that AI adoption has led them to rethink team structures and hiring plans.
However, the post on Spotify’s For the Record news page emphasized the role of employees in the company’s ongoing success story: “We believe that our incredible bandmates… are the driving force behind our success.”
To that end, Lundström further promised to build on a “strong legacy” of employee experience. “Enabling benefits for a sustainable workforce by championing initiatives focused on health and wellbeing is also a priority for me and my team,” she noted.
Aside from her plans for Spotify’s workforce, the HR chief had time to wrap up the interview with some quick music recommendations: Songwriting icon Diane Warren and Spotify’s Running Club playlist.
