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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

#271
post #268

Nothing to celebrate. My CDs from twenty years ago still work. Why would I invest time in Spotify when one day all the music just disappears, or they raise prices, etc.? If this is the future it doesn’t feel like progress.

This reminds me of the comment on the launch thread of Dropbox.

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

#272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What that says about Spotify's valuation is another thing

This is something that has been bothering me. Doesn't it seem like stock prices are getting out of whack?

There aren't enough IPOs and companies to invest into, so the public markets are chasing anything they can get their hands on. Do these companies have value? Absolutely. Is the demand arbitrarily high because there's supply? Absolutely.

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

#273

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…

> Spotify is at the mercy of major record labels For now. They have a large enough reach to essentially "become" a major record label, all they need is to start signing artists to contracts.

For this reason, I don't understand tech valuations.

Google is worth 1000B, general motors is worth 60B.

Why? I'd contest GM has more 'stuff' and abilities to do 'anything'. Google has a bigger population, but what does that translate to when the value of tech might be lower.

I'm not saying tech isnt more valuable, but there might be something wrong with google being 1,700% larger market cap than GM.

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

#274
I'm afraid about what will happen as more of these streaming services compete. It seems to be mirroring the Netflix/Hulu/Disney battleground -- subscription platforms which start differentiating themselves by owning exclusive content. Spotify has started this, and Jay-Z & Co have refused to give streaming rights to their competitors, such that Spotify doesn't have access to any Jay-Z, or, oddly enough, any Metallica.

The problem here is that I purchase these subscriptions so that I can have access to all of the music I haven't decided that I want to own forever yet. If this trend continues and streaming platforms become more and more exclusive, I will likely cancel my subscriptions, buy my music from the artists directly, and say goodbye to renting rather than owning music.

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

#275
post #268

Nothing to celebrate. My CDs from twenty years ago still work. Why would I invest time in Spotify when one day all the music just disappears, or they raise prices, etc.? If this is the future it doesn’t feel like progress.

Spotify is a service, not a product. Unless you similarly eschew cellular service and grid electricity, I'm not sure what your point is.

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

#276
post #268

Nothing to celebrate. My CDs from twenty years ago still work. Why would I invest time in Spotify when one day all the music just disappears, or they raise prices, etc.? If this is the future it doesn’t feel like progress.

If all the music you want to hear is 20 years old, then you're fine. The problem is that in the near future, and in some places the present, physical media will be sold along side vinyl as one of those things that people think only hipsters use.

So for any new music you may want to get, you're now forced into either purchasing a digital copy from a provider and burning copies yourself, or using a subscription service.

Eventually it becomes too cumbersome to manage your music in two places, so you reduce to one, and stop using your physical discs assuming you found replicas in your subscription.

But, to be honest, I've never had so much access to unknown artists' works for so cheap before. I can build whole playlists of very specific types of music and pay effectively less per month than one CD used to cost me 20 years ago for that one song I liked.

So I, for one, welcome our subscription overlords.

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

#277
post #77

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…

I agree they should sign exclusive deals with artists which would give them leverage in their negotiations with the record labels with an eye on the long-term hope of breaking that reliance on them. They won't be able to get into concert tickets at the present time in any significant way due to the exclusive agreements between Ticketmaster and venues. Though maybe the could start with some smaller acts and venues and…

>as somebody who has tried to buy tickets to a hot show on Ticketmaster the second they go on sale and watched the servers melt...

I’m just as amazed by that this problem has yet to get solved today as I was 15 years ago.

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

#278
post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bandcamp lets me download lists of people who've bought my music and of people who follow my profile. This is because they understand the business is mine , and they're simply a service provider for that business. Even their subscription system runs right through the musician's own Stripe account, so you can always take your subscriptions elsewhere. I don't have any reason to trust that a VC-fueled monster like Spoti…

Apologies if I come across as harsh but as a consumer, I would prefer my consumption activities to remain as private as possible. In light of FB news, I don't think even some Options > Privacy Settings on Bandcamp would be sufficient since most people wouldn't do it. I hope Bandcamp is opt-in for this info.

It's opt-out, I normally leave it checked, you get the option clearly when purchasing music/items. The artist can then send updates/you get follow notices, the volume is pretty low at the moment for me at least.

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

#279
post #79

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…

Soon enough Spotify will become the record label. All a record label does is, produce, promote and distribute. It's an antiquated model.

Most labels don't even distribute. There's standalone businesses that do that. See Ingrooves, The Orchard, ADA (owned by Warner but run as a standalone business IIRC).

For indies that have fewer requirements, there's lots of cheaper options such as TuneCore, DistroKid, and CD baby as well.

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

#280
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)?

Spotify has one mission: music. They do it really well. Google has a hundred hands in a hundred industries and only do a few of them very well. Google could shut their music service down for no reason at all. Spotify on the other hand has just gone all-in on ensuring they are a lasting institution.

In the same light, Spotify is incentivized to crush the music app space. They need the best UI, the best discovery experiences, etc... whereas Google’s product is like the rich family that funds their son’s strange lifestyle business: It can live or die and the world keeps spinning. They do not need to innovate or be better... and they really aren’t.

My wife used Spotify before we met. My sister uses it. My step mom uses it. All my buddies use it. I can count dozens of people around me that use it. It’s almost becoming a verb now: “Spotify it”. On the contrary, I only know one or two diehard google fanboys who use their music product.

So I guess at the end of the day.. to answer your question, yes you’re missing something!

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