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Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

newsroom.spotify.com

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Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#651

Post by kojeovo »

buro9 wrote: post #621
crazygringo wrote: post #596

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is completely backwards. They didn't hire "for the sake of hiring" -- they hired specifically to build up their podcasting and audiobook efforts, which were totally new products within the app. Which they thought were essential to staying competitive -- e.g. what if people start moving over to Amazon instead with its Music+Wondery+Audible, or other competitors? Now it's turned out those bets haven't been as succ…

They placed a bet, and that bet didn't pay off. But what I'd expect is for them to cut only a little (not 17%), because they would place another bet on something else to remain competitive. To cut so heavily looks like they've no great idea on the next bet that they could make, that they don't believe those people they hired could contribute towards another thing in the near future (or they have no runway to explore…

Interesting way to look at it, a bet. A bet involving people's livelivehoods.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#652

Post by gnicholas »

michaelt wrote: post #636
coredog64 wrote: post #552

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In my opinion they did these employees a disservice by hiring them in the first place. These people got a high(er)? paying job during the period, have a well known company on their resume, and are being let go during a layoff such that no blame is assigned to their exit. What’s not to like?

If they knew that was what they were getting into, great. On the other hand, if I hire a guy, he quits a secure job, he moves his family all the way across the country, and then 3 months later I fire him because I changed my mind about what I need? That guy is absolutely not going to thank me.

Yes, it depends on those factors. One other factor is what would have happened at his old job. I have a friend who went from one big tech company to another was then laid off recently. There's a good chance the result would have been the same either way, since the first company cut a lot as well.

One factor that keeps people at a company is the knowledge that, all things equal, last hired is first fired. It's not hard and fast, but you tend to have fewer allies at a company you just joined, making you more susceptible. When someone decides to leave one company and join a new one, they know that they're giving up this advantage.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#653

Post by mholm »

adamhp wrote: post #578
mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #40

I often wonder what kind of work actually happens at Spotify. Pretty much every major change to the software or api since I started using it has made the product worse. Breaking libspotify, pointless UI redesigns, obvious, user-facing bugs that go unfixed for years. Removing features like play queue for long periods. There's metadata errors and even audio corruption in some albums that I actually reported to them yea…

I don't work for and am not affiliated with Spotify in any way, but I can honestly say Spotify has added more value to my life than almost any other app I have downloaded. I have discovered so much music that I genuinely adore. It's honestly mind-boggling. I'm so excited to open up my Discover Weekly. I'm very grateful for the work that has gone into their curation of certain playlists and of the similarity scoring t…

I agree with you, but these features have been around for years. music radios, discover weekly, their premade mixes. Spotify has genuinely great recommendation algorithms. But they've had them the whole time. I don't know what they've been doing for the past few years, but I haven't seen any additional value add. They still don't even support Airplay 2.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#654

Post by bobthepanda »

lukeschlather wrote: post #643
crazygringo wrote: post #596

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is completely backwards. They didn't hire "for the sake of hiring" -- they hired specifically to build up their podcasting and audiobook efforts, which were totally new products within the app. Which they thought were essential to staying competitive -- e.g. what if people start moving over to Amazon instead with its Music+Wondery+Audible, or other competitors? Now it's turned out those bets haven't been as succ…

I am honestly looking to move to a competitor because of their podcasting and audiobook efforts. Well, and I don't necessarily care about those things per se but Spotify used to be a focused music app, and they keep removing things from the app in favor of whatever new "growth thing" they want to do this year. I never know when I load up the app what is going to have changed and take me an extra 5 minutes to find wha…

FWIW I switched to Apple Music and the player is pretty good, plus the music is lossless.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#655

Post by zucked »

eythian wrote: post #494
Scarblac wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Labour laws will apply, they probably can't just pick who they lay off. Maybe they have to let go the same proportion of people at all levels of seniority.

Yeah, where I live (NL), it's required to be something like "group people into roles, then let people go in reverse order of seniority (i.e. LIFO) within those roles."

This is refreshingly pragmatic. I guess I shouldn't expect anything less from that part of the world.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#656

Post by jaywalk »

teg4n_ wrote: post #627
jaywalk wrote: post #605

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you are pretty high up at Spotify, you have literally no idea how much Joe Rogan has brought in for them. His podcast has been number one on the platform since it launched.

Personally, I cancelled my Spotify premium family plan over it. I doubt I’m the only one.

I guarantee you're not the only one. Do you think Spotify brought on someone like Rogan without considering protest cancellations?

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#657

Post by explaininjs »

rez9x wrote: post #649
crazygringo wrote: post #596

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is completely backwards. They didn't hire "for the sake of hiring" -- they hired specifically to build up their podcasting and audiobook efforts, which were totally new products within the app. Which they thought were essential to staying competitive -- e.g. what if people start moving over to Amazon instead with its Music+Wondery+Audible, or other competitors? Now it's turned out those bets haven't been as succ…

I recently left Spotify for Apple Music, in large part because of this new development path. I don't want podcasts, audiobooks, etc mixed in with my music. I prefer separate apps. I think what bothered me more was the focus on branching into these new paths without any innovation in the music department--I'm sure there was innovation that wasn't visible to me. I'm tired of the same black and green color scheme. I don…

Congrats! Now you get to experience the glory of the deque. Your days of being restricted to stack pushing are in the past.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#658

Post by echelon »

buro9 wrote: post #621
crazygringo wrote: post #596

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is completely backwards. They didn't hire "for the sake of hiring" -- they hired specifically to build up their podcasting and audiobook efforts, which were totally new products within the app. Which they thought were essential to staying competitive -- e.g. what if people start moving over to Amazon instead with its Music+Wondery+Audible, or other competitors? Now it's turned out those bets haven't been as succ…

They placed a bet, and that bet didn't pay off. But what I'd expect is for them to cut only a little (not 17%), because they would place another bet on something else to remain competitive. To cut so heavily looks like they've no great idea on the next bet that they could make, that they don't believe those people they hired could contribute towards another thing in the near future (or they have no runway to explore…

> because they would place another bet on something else to remain competitive.

Now might not be the best bet making time. Circumstances and the market change.

Revolving loans might cost more to service, which also impacts R&D and product expenditures. It's very dynamic.

> To cut so heavily looks like they've no great idea on the next bet that they could make, that they don't believe those people they hired could contribute towards another thing in the near future (or they have no runway to explore doing so).

Exactly this. And that's just reality. No company has perfect information.

> Companies should place bets to stay relevant and grow, this looks like there isn't a big bet now.

AI clearly is looking interesting and shaping up in a big way for music, but the iron probably isn't hot enough to strike yet.

These are hard problems that leadership constantly grapples with.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#659

Post by miyuru »

maxglute wrote: post #102

Should have fired 80% of their employees years ago when service was reasonably feature complete. Not that I don't sympathize with people getting laid off, but feels like past a certain point, more heads changes products faster than can be fixed, and sometimes moving fast degrades what shouldn't have been changed in the first place. NPR acquisition drama aside, pocketcast has like 25 employees that makes the service s…

Spotify also has studios in multiple locations.

https://spotifystudios.com/

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#660

Post by thefourthchime »

rez9x wrote: post #649
crazygringo wrote: post #596

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is completely backwards. They didn't hire "for the sake of hiring" -- they hired specifically to build up their podcasting and audiobook efforts, which were totally new products within the app. Which they thought were essential to staying competitive -- e.g. what if people start moving over to Amazon instead with its Music+Wondery+Audible, or other competitors? Now it's turned out those bets haven't been as succ…

I recently left Spotify for Apple Music, in large part because of this new development path. I don't want podcasts, audiobooks, etc mixed in with my music. I prefer separate apps. I think what bothered me more was the focus on branching into these new paths without any innovation in the music department--I'm sure there was innovation that wasn't visible to me. I'm tired of the same black and green color scheme. I don…

Same here, plus the constant house ads. It seemed like every time i opened the App I had to close some banner ad for a new feature/record/whatever.
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