Daniel Ek

Ek brought his much-buzzed-about Swedish music streaming service to the U.S. last year amid hopes he’d swoop in and save the music biz. His ballyhooed hookup with Facebook offered plenty of extra juice. So is it a hit? Spotify operates in 15 countries and claims 15 million active users, 4 million of whom pay for ad-free listening. Those numbers are dwarfed by Pandora’s 54.9 million users, but they are growing fast and revenue is way up (150% in 2011, by some estimates). So, it must be said, are its losses thanks to mounting licensing fees (it isn’t yet profitable). Still, Ek’s tech savvy and vision have earned him the ear of the industry. Top travel tip: Dig that neck pillow. –E.F.