Daniel Ek, CEO and founder of Spotify, speaks at a media event | Andrew Burton/Getty Images Spotify co-founders threaten to move out of Sweden Music streaming startup not first to complain about Europe’s failure to assist growth.

Spotify's co-founders want Sweden to shape up, or else.

The world's biggest music streaming firm is threatening to decamp to the U.S. or somewhere else with thousands of jobs in tow unless Sweden deals with issues related to housing, education and financial markets.

"Our success is entirely dependent on being able to attract the best talent from around the world," Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon wrote in a blog post in Swedish published yesterday.

They cited an expensive housing market, an environment that makes it difficult to offer stock options to workers and a lack of emphasis on teaching coding in the education system.

“We are now therefore forced to state that if no changes are made, we must consider growing more in other countries instead of Sweden,” they wrote, according to translated text in the Local.

Ek and Lorentzon started the company in 2006. It's regarded as one of Sweden's great tech successes, along with gaming company King and fintech firm Klarna.

Their message is not new — startup founders have loudly and often complained about Europe's failure to effectively help small players scale-up and grow. This, many say, is why successful European companies often take their money — and their jobs — to the U.S.

A new capital markets union and so-called funds of funds, offering venture capital firms more help with supporting startups, is the European Commission's answer to the problem. But it could still take years for smaller European companies to feel the effects.