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Spotify opens on NYSE, valuing company at almost $30B

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Re: Spotify opens on NYSE, valuing company at almost $30B

#171

Post by ohf »

Asdfbla wrote: post #132
synaesthesisx wrote: post #27

I do love Spotify as a product, however I don't think it will scale the same way Netflix does. Spotify is at the mercy of major record labels, and as their books become more transparent the record labels will squeeze every dollar they can for licensing. That is, unless they find a way to upend the record industry entirely. Spotify has a unique position with their amazing discovery/recommendations engine- they could p…

Didn't record labels complain some time ago that Spotify had supposedly commissioned music for its instrumental playlists (presumably to save money on royalties)? There's probably a danger that large record labels will threaten to revoke their licensing agreements if they think that Spotify may start competing with them on that front. Not sure if that will be a problem, though, I'm not familiar with the whole streami…

I'd wager that Spotify is nearing the point at which - if not already there - record labels cannot afford to revoke their license. If they can get away with it, they'll try to push some buttons, but I doubt a full confrontation.

If there's any evidence against this, please let me know. I think it's interesting.

Re: Spotify opens on NYSE, valuing company at almost $30B

#172

Post by joshjkim »

biggest jump ball: Apple/Google/Amazon competing services. spotify deserves real credit for changing how people consume music, and I think that story will serve them well in the short-term, but their biggest risk is Apple/Google/Amazon who provide competing services that don't have any current pressure to turn a profit - Tim Cook basically said "we don't plan to make money"[1], a bad thing to hear from your primary competitor who also happens to be the most valuable company in the world. as i've said before on diff threads, I would not be surprised if Apple announces a big price decrease or other apple music news right before Spotify's first or second earnings report.

still, impressive for them to make it this far, if they can really find a path to profitability that also fairly compensates artists, I wish them the best! I think it's more likely that as apple/google/amazon force them to continue to operate at a loss, downward pressure on their stock will make them a good acquisition target for one of the big tech companies looking to compete with Apple Music (Amazon seems like a real possibility here - a spotify acquisition feels similar in size and scope to their recent WF acquisition, essentially another double-down on their "everything store" vision/story).

[1] https://www.fastcompany.com/40525409/why-apple-is-the-worlds...

Re: Spotify opens on NYSE, valuing company at almost $30B

#173

Post by [deleted] »

komali2 wrote: post #47

I'm not quite clear on why people are choosing spotify over google play music - to me the google option is superior in UI and offerings (including ad-free youtube). Am I missing something? Is it just one runs better on iPhones or is more hip (like why people choose snapchat over instagram or something)?

[deleted]

Re: Spotify opens on NYSE, valuing company at almost $30B

#174

Post by satysin »

komali2 wrote: post #47

I'm not quite clear on why people are choosing spotify over google play music - to me the google option is superior in UI and offerings (including ad-free youtube). Am I missing something? Is it just one runs better on iPhones or is more hip (like why people choose snapchat over instagram or something)?

I use Spotify because it works on my TV and PS4 whereas GPM does not. I would happily use GPM but I don't want to buy new hardware to do so.

Re: Spotify opens on NYSE, valuing company at almost $30B

#175

Post by praneshp »

browie wrote: post #50
verelo wrote: post #4

So i bought in, who knows where this will go though :) One of my hopes it that just like NFLX, once the company focuses on producing / licensing it's own content they can do really well. I'm interested in hearing what others have to say on this! Did you buy, will you buy? Why?

I don't know much about buying shares but I would like to buy in and invest. Care to give me feedback on that? Where did you buy in?

I don't know too much about buying shares, but anyone that knows less than even me should not be buying individual stocks (that too based on IPO day hype).

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Getting_started

Re: Spotify opens on NYSE, valuing company at almost $30B

#176

Post by lallysingh »

whatok wrote: post #53
gm-conspiracy wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is alot easier (cost and effort) to start a band and put on album on Spotify, compared to creating a movie/tv show. Consumption is different, as well - several minutes at a time versus dedicated visual attention for a minimum of 22 minutes.

And how is anyone supposed to sift through all that garbage to find something worthwhile?

This is roughly the youtube model now, isn't it? Some grass-roots promotion will get content fed into a recommendation engine of sorts.

Re: Spotify opens on NYSE, valuing company at almost $30B

#177

Post by [deleted] »

komali2 wrote: post #130
jklinger410 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who just made this choice, let me add some insight. - My friends use Spotify - Larger library - Well made playlists - Social feed In the end, they are very similar products. I feel that Spotify has a huge head start on Google here, and it shows. The more mature product is Spotify. I think Google can't really compete in terms of curation and popularity. Really, the edge cases of "music that is not on Spotif…

Are there any specific artists that you've been able to find on Spotify but not on GPM? I haven't run into this problem yet (except one time when Mick Gordon maybe forgot to renew or something his Wolfestein soundtrack? It was fixed within a week though)

[deleted]

Re: Spotify opens on NYSE, valuing company at almost $30B

#178

Post by thomasfortes »

whymsicalburito wrote: post #63
komali2 wrote: post #47

I'm not quite clear on why people are choosing spotify over google play music - to me the google option is superior in UI and offerings (including ad-free youtube). Am I missing something? Is it just one runs better on iPhones or is more hip (like why people choose snapchat over instagram or something)?

It's the music discovery aspect of Spotify that is their game changer. They are constantly adding new ways to find new music.

Spotify is a music company, they care about it in a way that I don't think Google or Apple cares, this reflects on the dedication to the core of their product.

Re: Spotify opens on NYSE, valuing company at almost $30B

#179

Post by esMazer »

Thaxll wrote: post #121
jklinger410 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who just made this choice, let me add some insight. - My friends use Spotify - Larger library - Well made playlists - Social feed In the end, they are very similar products. I feel that Spotify has a huge head start on Google here, and it shows. The more mature product is Spotify. I think Google can't really compete in terms of curation and popularity. Really, the edge cases of "music that is not on Spotif…

Larger library? They all use the same base library afaik.

Spotify "Over 35M" [1]

Google Music 40M [2]

Apple Music 45M [3]

[1]https://press.spotify.com/us/about/ [2]https://play.google.com/music/listen#/sulp [3]https://www.apple.com/apple-music/

Re: Spotify opens on NYSE, valuing company at almost $30B

#180

Post by maherbeg »

whatok wrote: post #158
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You algorithmically seed new music to those with an interest in the genre and keep the songs with higher replays around for more recommendations. With perfect knowledge of who is listening to what and their overall tastes you can cut out all the inefficiency of the current gatekeepers (labels, billboard, and corp. radio) who act as self imposed kingmakers for a few anointed acts. The cream will rise to the top natura…

This sounds terrible from a user perspective and arguably promotes certain types of music while penalizing others. As a user, if I hear more than a few songs that are terrible that were forced upon me by some algorithm, I am not going to listen to that playlist/use that service anymore. If users are the only way you are generating training data (for this supposed only self-published music world), you are going to end…

I think you could do this by pushing to users who tend to look for new artists already. There's a large set of folks that love to discover new music, and actively do so, and adding one or two new artists to promote here would be an easy way to start the network effect to other users.
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