Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17% • Hacker News Board

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#821

Post by bogomipz » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 6:57 PM UTC

pgwhalen wrote: post #753

bogomipz wrote: post #556

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, you were hired and laid off in the same week? I'm really sorry that happened to you. The fact that that was allowed to happen suggests a very dysfunctional and incompetent management culture.

I agree it's not a fun situation, but I'm curious what you expect to have happened instead. What would the "competent management" version of the situation look like?

In a competent management culture plans of impending downsizing would have been communicated to hiring managers and they would have adjusted their open reqs. It is not uncommon to be told during the interview process that a role has been frozen. It's personally happened to me on 3 occasions.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#822

Post by sb8244 » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 6:58 PM UTC

deng wrote: post #773

Spotify is a completely mistery to me. I'm asking: What does Spotify really have ? They don't own the music. They don't own podcasts (OK, they may have some exclusives like Rogan). All they have is a license, a bit of software, and lots of users. How will they ever turn a profit? What's the end game here? I just switched my whole family from Spotify to Deezer and it was literally a matter of minutes. There are even s…

Deezer costs more for family than I pay now on Spotify. Why switch?

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#823

Post by Czarcasm » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 6:58 PM UTC

emodendroket wrote: post #530

Has Spotify ever made money? It seems strange that all these music streaming services have limped along for years without having a model that makes any money or sense. Convenient for the rest of us I suppose.

They have an operating profit, but they choose to reinvest it all back into the company, thus they don't have an overall profit. They could reduce the amount they are reinvesting into the company at any time in order to produce an overall profit.

This is exactly what Amazon did/does. Doesn't mean that they have "limped along"

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#824

Post by jabroni_salad » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 7:02 PM UTC

itsoktocry wrote: post #795

Hackbraten wrote: post #789

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spotify Connect is a real game changer. I tap a song on the web player and it streams it on our living room amp, which supports it natively. No apps involved whatsoever.

> Spotify Connect is a real game changer. That sounds like a minor quality of life feature, hardly a "game changer". Do you think this is impossible for other companies to replicate?

> Do you think this is impossible for other companies to replicate?

They are welcome to do so at any time of their choosing. It's only been an entire decade since the feature launched, I'm sure the competition will figure it out soon. For the most part, the only one I've seen that has more features than what is provided by basic google cast / airplay is ironically Youtube Music.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#825

Post by ssnistfajen » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 7:04 PM UTC

charles_f wrote: post #588

> To understand this decision, I think it is important to assess Spotify with a clear, objective lens ... then proceeds to vague MBA word without a single number to support them. > We debated making smaller reductions throughout 2024 and 2025 What was not debated was keeping people they hired. > we still have too many people dedicated to supporting work and even doing work around the work rather than contributing to…

Frankly I think the UI has gotten consistently worse. Playing saved/liked (Spotify keeps changing the word) songs from a specific artist is still very hard and convoluted. "Now Playing" pop-up panel on desktop was a feature no one asked for. "Your Library" revamp was confusing and solely for the purpose to push podcasts which somehow made it harder to view the podcasts I actually follow. Then comes the dreadful rounded corners on everything but also weird empty spaces around the UI resulting in wasted screen real estate. I held onto Google Play Music until its very last moment, all because of Spotify's dreadful UI.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#826

Post by whateverman23 » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 7:05 PM UTC

blindriver wrote: post #731

This was a good layoff note. He didn't say anything gag-worthy like "I take full responsibility for this." Most SaaS companies got a huge pandemic bump and overhired in 2021 and 2022. I think many if not most that haven't cut 20% will be cutting 20% or more in 2024.

You can't fully remove the "gag-worthy" label unless they use the word "layoff". Calling it "rightsizing" or "headcount reduction" is gag-worthy.

A great gag-worthy line: "Please know we are focused on treating our impacted colleagues with the respect and compassion they deserve".

Also, if the note doesn't include the CEO stepping down (even with a transition period would be fine), then it's not a good layoff note.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#827

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 7:06 PM UTC

matchbok wrote: post #736

sitkack wrote: post #700

So effectively contractors. Companies shouldn't be allowed to "shed" this much of their workforce in a system like the US's here we have a very poor safety net. They bulked up, built their products and now want to slim down and enjoy their profits at the expense of these sacrificial workers.

One alternative is never hiring them in the first place, which is a real possibility if some bad ideas like yours were put into law.

[deleted]

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#828

Post by ssnistfajen » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 7:07 PM UTC

rapsey wrote: post #26

ardit33 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

17% is a huge cut. More than that and you end up damaging operations. Look what is happening to X / Twitter. PS. Spotify had already two layoffs, once 6% in Jan 2023 and 2% in June. This combined seems like a 25% ish cut.

It's seeing more use than ever with a fraction of the staff?

That is meaningless when the vast majority of users aren't paying and won't pay for the foreseeable future. Advertisers pay, and Elon is doing all he can to drive away advertisers. Ad quality on Twitter has severely degraded over the past two months and we all know why.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#829

Post by scarface_74 » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 7:08 PM UTC

sitkack wrote: post #700

So effectively contractors. Companies shouldn't be allowed to "shed" this much of their workforce in a system like the US's here we have a very poor safety net. They bulked up, built their products and now want to slim down and enjoy their profits at the expense of these sacrificial workers.

Your safety net is spend less than you make which should be easy for tech workers who even for your CRUD developers can easily make twice the median household wage.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#830

Post by dcchambers » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 7:08 PM UTC

This absolutely sucks for those involved, especially given the timing. Not only does it add stress to an already stressful time of year for many, but hiring typically slows down in December anyway. That said it's good to see five months of severance pay. Hopefully long enough that the effected folks can take a little time off to refresh themselves, not stress about finances, and give the industry time to pick up hiring again in 2024 once new annual budgets kick in...