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Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

newsroom.spotify.com

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Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#201

Post by tootie »

polygotdomain wrote: post #101

I think we've gotten into this weird spot where tech companies are almost goading each other into layoffs. I don't doubt that there was some overexpansion during COVID, but it seems to have shifted. Tech companies have signaled to the market that staffing numbers were too high (regardless of profitability), and that investors want to see them brought back down. These layoffs don't really seem to be an indication of c…

I think everyone trying to attribute some kind of 4D chess maneuvers to these actions is massively overestimating tech CEOs.

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#202

Post by phamilton4 »

WastingMyTime89 wrote: post #193
CydeWeys wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2X is my understanding as well. Whatever you think an employee costs based on TC, double it to get the rough cost to the employer. Some other big employer costs related to employees you forgot include employment taxes, hardware/software expenses and licenses, and office space and related perks. Also I suspect that $150k as the mean TC of those being let go is low. Spotify might be saving up to $500k all-in per employ…

> Also I suspect that $150k as the mean TC of those being let go is low. Probably not low. It's an enormous salary for a developer outside of the Valley and Spotify has plenty of employees which are not in the USA.

TBH I think the average Sr. Developer is ~130k in the US. Of course this varies so much depending on the role and company.

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#203

Post by soupfordummies »

gadders wrote: post #14

I got asked to do a survey when I opened the Spotify app last week. All the questions were of a "What would you do if this price rise happened?" and most of the varieties had the family plan going to £20.99. I don't know what they are smoking to think that they're worth more than a Netflix subscription. Video > audio. If they put the family plan price up I'll cancel it and use Prime Music or something.

I get what you're saying but I also want to clarify that an equivalent analogy would be if Netflix had nearly EVERY film/TV show that was ever released.

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#204

Post by CydeWeys »

WastingMyTime89 wrote: post #193
CydeWeys wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2X is my understanding as well. Whatever you think an employee costs based on TC, double it to get the rough cost to the employer. Some other big employer costs related to employees you forgot include employment taxes, hardware/software expenses and licenses, and office space and related perks. Also I suspect that $150k as the mean TC of those being let go is low. Spotify might be saving up to $500k all-in per employ…

> Also I suspect that $150k as the mean TC of those being let go is low. Probably not low. It's an enormous salary for a developer outside of the Valley and Spotify has plenty of employees which are not in the USA.

Levels.fyi supports me at least: https://www.levels.fyi/companies/spotify/salaries

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#205

Post by CydeWeys »

phamilton4 wrote: post #202
WastingMyTime89 wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also I suspect that $150k as the mean TC of those being let go is low. Probably not low. It's an enormous salary for a developer outside of the Valley and Spotify has plenty of employees which are not in the USA.

TBH I think the average Sr. Developer is ~130k in the US. Of course this varies so much depending on the role and company.

Spotify pays significantly above the average, though. Not as high as the top-tier FANGs, but still high.

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#206

Post by ben7799 »

default_png wrote: post #142
ben7799 wrote: post #125

I've seen some good analyses lately showing spotify's business model just can't survive in the long run with the way things are going in the economy and the record companies are squeezing them while simultaneously maneuvering to own them/buy them over time. Apple/Amazon/Google are diversified giants that can seemingly get away with running things without a need to make as much money as Spotify/Tidal/Whatever which ju…

Thing is though, I have probably thrown 3K into Spotify, If I cant get a "Flat rate subscription for All / Most of the music out there" - > I will 100% just go back to downloading discographies of the artists I like. People saying "Support the artists" - I don't care about the artists, I just want to listen to whatever takes my fancy, and if they can't do that at my price point, they will end up getting nothing from…

$3k is a lot of money to rent music. It's kind of odd to realize people have spent that kind of money to rent music and have nothing to show for it without continuing to spend money.

$3k would still buy a very large physical collection. Most people didn't have that kind of money into a physical collection back in the day.

Vinyl prices are a joke, but CDs are often cheaper than a digital download if bought new and they are easy to find for $1-2 used.

It's kind of amazing you're OK having spent $3k renting music but think the only option would be to go back to piracy if streaming rental isn't available.

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#207

Post by [deleted] »

defaultcompany wrote: post #159
eigen-vector wrote: post #32

This is probably the least tactical message amongst all the companies that have laid off people. Ek's spent most of the time rambling about efficiency and organizational changes to leadership positions who'll be least affected by the layoffs. Then comes the layoff news. It's almost as if he's rectifying someone else's mistake and everyone getting laid off should be thankful about it. I wish CEOs read some of the emai…

It did seem a bit tone deaf but five months baseline severance is no joke.

[deleted]

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#208

Post by nsteel »

Kiro wrote: post #170
ajaimk wrote: post #162

Can a mod rename this: sounds like base salary is being reduced by 6%

Don't tell mods to change something if you're not sure what you're talking about. Base here refers to people, 600 to be exact, so it sounds like you're wrong.

I think you've misunderstood the parent comment. They were saying the current title could be misinterpreted to mean "base salary is being reduced by 6%". I didn't think that, but I can see where they are coming from.

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#209

Post by Reimersholme »

ghaff wrote: post #141
mjr00 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I dunno, maybe if Spotify wasn't spending hundreds of million on podcast deals and actually focusing on what its users want, they wouldn't need to lay people off. One of the people specifically called out is Chief Content Officer Dawn Ostroff, who "decided to depart," which is how you phrase C-level firings when they coincide with layoffs. I imagine that the disastrous podcast deals with the royals and Obamas had s…

I confess I don't get the big ticket podcast exclusives. But, then, I basically never listed to any of the "big name" talk radio shows either (and even actively avoided them).

What's weirder to me is how I can't remember even seeing them advertised within Spotify. I know there are some really need content Spotify is producing, but the ones I'm aware off I've generally found by accident somewhere on the Internet, never through their own UI.

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#210

Post by [deleted] »

jzb wrote: post #93

I dunno, maybe if Spotify wasn't spending hundreds of million on podcast deals and actually focusing on what its users want, they wouldn't need to lay people off. Any way you slice it, there's no way that the Rogan deal pays for itself. Spotify is stingy AF with the artists that drove people to the service, and then firehoses Rogan with cash and tries to shove podcasts down people's throats. I was a happy Spotify sub…

[deleted]
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