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Spotify files for its IPO

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Re: Spotify files for its IPO

#181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First mover advantage? Spotify has been around for many, many years before just about anyone else that matters. Since they're all basically the same thing why would you change after new ones came out? I kept with Google Music for the longest time before moving to spotify only because of the family deal (which, if I remember correctly, came before Google's deal and really the only reason why I ever switched).

Sorry, not buying it. You don't grow to 60 million paying subs on a generic product that has little more than a first mover advantage. Their subscriber count grew 50% from Sep 16 through Jul 17 alone when everyone was competing aggressively. It grew a ton after Apple Music came out. It grew a ton after Google Music came out. It grew a ton after Amazon Music came out. Maybe, just maybe, Spotify is actually really grea…

- Bundle the subscription with another service. Like when dropbox pro came with the galaxy S.

- Seamless user registration and free trial that comes with automatic recurring payment. You'd be surprised how easy it to get $5 monthly out of android/apple account without people noticing.

- Bots, lost and fake accounts

- Arrange statistics generally speaking and careful wording. "subscribers" doesn't distinguish between free trial, inactive accounts or long term regular users.

There are plentiful ways to handle PR however you like. Only the insiders really know what's happening inside a company.

Re: Spotify files for its IPO

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, not buying it. You don't grow to 60 million paying subs on a generic product that has little more than a first mover advantage. Their subscriber count grew 50% from Sep 16 through Jul 17 alone when everyone was competing aggressively. It grew a ton after Apple Music came out. It grew a ton after Google Music came out. It grew a ton after Amazon Music came out. Maybe, just maybe, Spotify is actually really grea…

- Bundle the subscription with another service. Like when dropbox pro came with the galaxy S. - Seamless user registration and free trial that comes with automatic recurring payment. You'd be surprised how easy it to get $5 monthly out of android/apple account without people noticing. - Bots, lost and fake accounts - Arrange statistics generally speaking and careful wording. "subscribers" doesn't distinguish between…

If you're making the argument "Spotify probably isn't that much more popular, it just inflates its numbers" you've got a high burden of proof to clear with people who see everyone around them using Spotify at a much higher rate than the competing services. Maybe that's not your experience in your circles, but it's clearly a lot of other peoples', just from reading this thread.

Re: Spotify files for its IPO

#183
post #47

I hope they do get funding so they can support messaging again, one of the reasons I came back to Spotify was for one of my most beloved features. Sending tracks to friends within the application, but then found out it was removed. I still subscribe to Spotify, but the "copy link" send to friend via text is so much worse than being able to just message within.

Yes, I would like to see more social features that aren't tied to Facebook. I know it's not their core competency, but it's odd that the Friends feature requires FB even though they support "standard" non-FB user accounts. And a timeline-esque view of who's been listening to what at-a-glance would be neat.

You actually don't need Facebook to connect with other people on Spotify. You can just search for their login or their name and find their account.

Re: Spotify files for its IPO

#184
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An IPO provides 1) a fundraising opportunity 2) a liquidity event 3) an opportunity to fulfill contractual obligations One of the conditions of their recent debt financing was that they IPO within a certain time frame. If they believe that they don't need additional funding at the moment or can get better terms then they are simply fulfilling criteria #2 and #3 with their unique IPO. I imagine Spotify can get decent…

> One of the conditions of their recent debt financing was that they IPO within a certain time frame Spotify is not IPO’ing. They are direct listing their stock. Because of a simple drafting error on part of TPG et al Spotify is side-stepping the bulk of the delayed IPO penalties.

This is exactly why they are direct listing. TPG is screaming bloody murder but then again they claim to be the masters of structuring complex deals so they can’t claim that a startup snuck in a loophole under them.

Re: Spotify files for its IPO

#185
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this has a good chance of being a good long-term investment for one simple reason. Spotify has something that few companies have but all dream of: pricing power. The other week, my kids were watching TV and my wife and I were in the kitchen and one of them yelled out, "Mom, something popped up on Netflix saying the price is going up. What should I do?" My wife and I said the same thing instantly: "Just hit ok…

Why wouldn't everyone just go to Apple/Google Music if Spotify raised their prices? None of them have exclusive content or features that rival Netflix's exclusive library, I don't see why Spotify have any meaningful pricing power. I'm one of those people who hit OK this year when Netflix raised their price, but I'll immediately leave Spotify if they raise their prices and the competition don't - they have nothing sti…

Because Apple and Google Music suck? And non Apple fanboys would never go to Apple music, Apple customers are probably already there, and people don't want to give all their business to the big giants which do evil things? (Not that Spotify doesn't do evil things). Spotify also lets you catalog your own tracks from local drives... does Apple Music or Google Music let you do that?

Re: Spotify files for its IPO

#186
post #46

I don't think this is a good long term investment. Disclaimer: I worked for a Spotify competitor in the past, so i have a pretty solid understanding of how the business works. I think it is a bad investment for one simple reason: Spotify purchases its main product (music) from a oligopoly. I'd estimate that 95%+ of the tracks streamed (by total playtime) are from one of the 3 major music labels: Universal, Sony or Wa…

What about compulsory licensing?

Re: Spotify files for its IPO

#187
post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spotify's strength is their recommendation engine, IMO. It's really good.

For me it's the concerts listing, which shows you when an artist is in town and how to buy tickets.

Oh wow, I just realised that feature exists.

Also looks like Zhu is coming to town Next week. Might have to grab some tickets.

Re: Spotify files for its IPO

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the long term answer here is legislature that forces companies to license things for the same rate to anyone and that rate must be publicly published.

Not sure about other countries, but I'd be shocked if legislation like this passed in the United States.

It has in the past - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_license

Re: Spotify files for its IPO

#189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- Bundle the subscription with another service. Like when dropbox pro came with the galaxy S. - Seamless user registration and free trial that comes with automatic recurring payment. You'd be surprised how easy it to get $5 monthly out of android/apple account without people noticing. - Bots, lost and fake accounts - Arrange statistics generally speaking and careful wording. "subscribers" doesn't distinguish between…

If you're making the argument "Spotify probably isn't that much more popular, it just inflates its numbers" you've got a high burden of proof to clear with people who see everyone around them using Spotify at a much higher rate than the competing services. Maybe that's not your experience in your circles, but it's clearly a lot of other peoples', just from reading this thread.

Let's not call that "inflating numbers". No company will publish a detailed report on their users, costs and revenues.

I am making the argument that a company saying it has millions of users and is growing is not enough to judge of its current and future situation.

Re: Spotify files for its IPO

#190
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spotify's is based on machine learning working on the actual audio tracks. It seems to me that Google Play Music's recommendations are based on what artists you like, based on machine learning, but not using the actual music, just pattern matching with other people. I use Google Play Music, and am actually considering trying Spotify to get better recommendations.

Do you have sources on this ? Always interested to read more about how these recommendations work.

This is the article I read that talked about it. Sources are a the bottoms, and they seem legitimate.

https://hackernoon.com/spotifys-discover-weekly-how-machine-...

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