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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%

#951

Post by acjohnson55 »

varjag wrote: post #496
acjohnson55 wrote: post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At every company I've worked at, there are things we want to do that nearly everybody think are a good idea. But we can't do them all, because we have limited capital. So we have to be very strategic. Spotify has developed a huge surface area, because they are attempting to be the one-stop shop for all things audio. The thesis is that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and that's what they're selling to…

10000 employees with let's say 40% overhead translates into 2000 3-ish lean teams. Certainly some would be far larger than 3 person but even then. Is Spotify surface that huge really?

Not all of the employees are working on the tech side. I can only imagine Spotify has a ton of business operations, sales, legal, etc. It's a worldwide company, too.

And when it comes to product development teams, 3 is pretty minimal. I'm sure most teams have more people than that. I'm simply pointing out that there are a lot of corners of functionality within the platform and one way you can press the gas pedal to accelerate your roadmap is fragmenting areas of concern and forming teams around those fragments. If the conditions for making those bets change, you undo that by consolidating teams, lengthening roadmaps, and downsizing staff (in some order).

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#952

Post by 10u152 »

anon23432343 wrote: post #82
10u152 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t listen to Joe Rogan to listen to Joe Rogan. You listen because he has the most interesting guests on.

And lets people spread fake news and stupid theories. Just because they are "interesting" they should not get a free promo.

Who defines what's "Fake"? Who defines what's stupid?

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#953

Post by yawboakye »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #909
tracerbulletx wrote: post #901

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every damned time this happens someone asks how it's possible they have so many employees when it's just an app... Spotify owns multiple large podcast studios, has sales people, negotiators, music industry people, lawyers, facility staff, lawyers, marketing, content curators. It is the business engine through which the vast majority of the world consumes music these days. You can quibble about if they have too many e…

This seems false, Whatsapp became 'the business engine through which the vast majority of the world' sends texts on the backs of 20ish employees. Even assuming delivering music, podcasts, royalty payments, negotiations with artists, etc..., takes 100x more headcount in total, that should still be only around 2000 employees. 9000 just means most are not being that productive.

agreed. the population has probably passed an inflection point where bureaucracy is at its peak, crosscutting concerns are unavoidable, and communication chains too long and winding to be considered communication at all. but we’re talking of the genetrix of some of the modern modes of organizing work and workers. i'm more hopeful that they’ll be able to do the right thing, even if it doesn’t mean reducing workforce to the irreducible minimum.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#954

Post by eddtries »

anon23432343 wrote: post #82
10u152 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t listen to Joe Rogan to listen to Joe Rogan. You listen because he has the most interesting guests on.

And lets people spread fake news and stupid theories. Just because they are "interesting" they should not get a free promo.

I love it when people parrot what they heard - what misinformation? Do you mean the Robert Kennedy stuff? I can have my own strong views that the vaccines were useful and still enjoy content - if you just consume what you hear and relay it of course you shouldn't be around "fake news and stupid theories". Saying that 99% of Rogans podcasts are not like this.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#955

Post by andruby »

Aaargh20318 wrote: post #592
jmarchello wrote: post #495

Anytime I see layoffs like this, All I hear is "We hired for the sake of hiring when money was cheap and we wanted to signal 'growth', But now reality has set in and we need our employees to serve a purpose beyond simply headcount". In my opinion they did these employees a disservice by hiring them in the first place. We need our companies to act more responsibly regardless of the price of capital. Innovate sure, but…

> All I hear is "We hired for the sake of hiring when money was cheap and we wanted to signal 'growth' In a healthy company, I would expect every employee to contribute to the bottom line, either directly or indirectly. They hired these people because they needed them to do a job, a job that somehow helps making the company money. As such, unless there are sudden significant changes to the market and product (which a…

> After all, employees generate more money than they cost, that's the entire point of employees.

That is only true for profitable business and only true _on average_ across all employees. It isn't true for each employee individually.

Some employees are a lot more valuable at generating money than others. This isn't necessarily the employee's fault.

With layoffs and restructurings the business should be trying to improve that average profitability per employee.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#956

Post by shoulderfake »

mrbonner wrote: post #743

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…

[dead]

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#957

Post by that_guy_iain »

ssnistfajen wrote: post #844
that_guy_iain wrote: post #57

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.

Having looked at the job market, there are less job postings currently than in previous years.

While overall there will still be more jobs than qualified people to fill them. Let's not pretend like the employee market is full of people who've just been laid off from very reputable companies.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#958

Post by hbossy »

Aaargh20318 wrote: post #592
jmarchello wrote: post #495

Anytime I see layoffs like this, All I hear is "We hired for the sake of hiring when money was cheap and we wanted to signal 'growth', But now reality has set in and we need our employees to serve a purpose beyond simply headcount". In my opinion they did these employees a disservice by hiring them in the first place. We need our companies to act more responsibly regardless of the price of capital. Innovate sure, but…

> All I hear is "We hired for the sake of hiring when money was cheap and we wanted to signal 'growth' In a healthy company, I would expect every employee to contribute to the bottom line, either directly or indirectly. They hired these people because they needed them to do a job, a job that somehow helps making the company money. As such, unless there are sudden significant changes to the market and product (which a…

firing employees should result in lower revenues Why? They built the product and live off the subscription fees. The service is running, people are paying. They don't need to build anything new to keep getting paid. Does a landlord need to keep paying for the construction crew after his building is finished?

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#959

Post by bede »

starcraft2wol wrote: post #488
bede wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a scientist working in public health, this decision burned my faith in Spotify. They were taking down conspiracy theory podcasts daily while bankrolling Rogan to provide a platform with insane reach for cranks like Robert Malone. I cancelled my subscription for a few months in protest.

I feel a lot of my faith in public health scientists was also burned.

I also lost faith in certain scientists (and many more politicians) during the pandemic. But be wary of generalising about a such a large and interdisciplinary group of people. Voices amplified by the media (indeed like Robert Malone on Rogan's podcast) often grossly misrepresent scientific consensus.
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