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Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

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Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#841

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"

Do they? This would seem to suggest otherwise. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1022122/spotify-operatin...

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#842

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.

It's complicated. A lot of money exited from Spotify after its IPO. The rightsholders (Warner, UMG...) got an outsized return on that investment. Smooth it out since then and it looks like a more routine profit. I'm not sure if basic financials are an adequate format for a backcatalogue monetization business.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#843

I didn’t know they have that many people (9000) to work for a single product. I’ve been a subscriber for more than 5 years and the app on the iPhone just gets worse everyday. Why? - daily updates is gone. This is where I can get a snapshot of all new releases from artists I love. I’m not sure if Release Calendar is the new one but I don’t bother to check. - I listen to classical and the song title naming is just subp…

Not to mention them killing playlist radio functionality, which was a great way to have a custom Pandora-like experience whose seed you could control.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#844

Super good time to announce layoffs, at the start of the month where everyone is preparing for time off and holidays.

Severance package is 5 months and Q1 will have no shortage of new job postings elsewhere. Yes this is probably not great for mental health but financially they should be fine.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#845
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 is a completely mistery to me. I'm asking: What does Deezer really have? They don't own the music. They don't own podcasts (OK, they may have some exclusives). 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 Deezer to tidal and it was literally a matter of minutes. There are even services that mov…

Very witty. Yes, the same applies to Deezer. What I'm saying is: it's a race to the bottom, and in the end, musicians will suffer (they already do).

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#846

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.

> at the expense of these sacrificial workers

Were they not paid during their employment? Not to mention everything they are doing for those exiting employees (average five months of severance including healthcare, 2 months of career placement services, etc)

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#847
post #668

Now everyone sees just layoffs again. But there are so many companies thriving and keeping their workforce. As they are in balance. And are also happy to grow at a smaller pace.

This is so important, growing at a small and healthier pace.

Some companies try to make the reason of their existence to grow as fast as possible, no matter what.... and in the process they destroy the value they originally offered to its customers, processes, people and quality controls.. for what?

There was a class from Darden School that talked about that, I recommend reading this summary from it https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/growth-to-greatn...

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#848

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.

I thought other streaming services have similar functionality, right? I know Deezer has Deezer Connect.

TBH - this is the first time I've heard of Deezer and looking at their website - they seem to have ripped off every feature that Spotify has, including the end of year 'wrapped'.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#849

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.

Realistically they would have a permanent contract at a company that contracts out developers.

Flexibility (at the cost of a premium) for the client company, safe for the employee.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#850
post #425

>Severance pay: We will start with a baseline for all employees, with the average employee receiving approximately five months of severance. This will be calculated based on local notice period requirements and employee tenure. Is this a super vague way of saying we're letting go of the senior people with tenure first. The average severance being five months implies that most people being let go probably aren't the p…

as always, this means US people are cut immediately while acting like a progressive employer but not sharing any of the values of their European homeland when they dont have to
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