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Spotify passes 500M active users as operating losses deepen

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Re: Spotify passes 500M active users as operating losses deepen

#21

I tried to convince my son to try the spotify premium which is currently 3 months free trial. He said he does not need another service on top of YouTube premium and Apple Music even if it’s free. He’s not wrong. I’m not sure how a music only service can survive on its own- I often switch between videoclips, songs, podcasts with video or not, all on YouTube. Another app/service for just some of these things is not con…

I just use Apple Music. I have no need for Google's Music service.

Google's music service is bundled with YouTube premium. Do you like watching ads on YouTube? I don't. But yeah there's no point in buying multiple music streaming services if you don't have other reasons for the overlap. They all work the same.

Re: Spotify passes 500M active users as operating losses deepen

#22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a rule that when at scale every edge case is a real problem. There's likely a whole org working on integrations with some oddball apps and devices. They likely make millions from this edge use case since Spotify operates at such scale. There's likely an org that makes small 0.1% improvements to server infra that saves millions. Every possible edge case bug is being hit at their scale. It's worth having extra…

no trust me i could recreate spotify in my garage with 5 engineers, I mean all they do is play mp3s, how hard could it be.

Then go for it?

Re: Spotify passes 500M active users as operating losses deepen

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no trust me i could recreate spotify in my garage with 5 engineers, I mean all they do is play mp3s, how hard could it be.

Then go for it?

It's a hacker news joke. When dropbox was originally announced on hacker news, someone posted that its just rsync and they could implement it in a weekend.

Re: Spotify passes 500M active users as operating losses deepen

#24
post #2

>>> In January, following similar moves by other tech industry giants, the streaming giant announced it was cutting around 600 jobs out of around 10,000. I would have guessed a total headcount of 2K-3K. Anybody has an idea of the approximate headcount by department ? 10K full time employees seem a lot to me.

There's a rule that when at scale every edge case is a real problem. There's likely a whole org working on integrations with some oddball apps and devices. They likely make millions from this edge use case since Spotify operates at such scale. There's likely an org that makes small 0.1% improvements to server infra that saves millions. Every possible edge case bug is being hit at their scale. It's worth having extra…

>>> Not to mention the shear business complexity of what they do. Billing, paying royalties, advertisers, legal compliance etc.

Thanks, that was also my guess. Would be interesting to know headcount by department. Hence my question.

Re: Spotify passes 500M active users as operating losses deepen

#25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just use Apple Music. I have no need for Google's Music service.

Google's music service is bundled with YouTube premium. Do you like watching ads on YouTube? I don't. But yeah there's no point in buying multiple music streaming services if you don't have other reasons for the overlap. They all work the same.

It just means I watch YouTube less and less. I used to have Google All Music Access, and they messed up when one of my cards expired and cut my service instead of giving me a grace period, I was grandfathered into YouTube Red or whatever they call it now, but when I had to renew with a new card, I no longer had both, there was no way I was going to pay for YouTube and Google All Music Access both. So as soon as I got my iPhone I got Apple Music and gave up on Google.

Re: Spotify passes 500M active users as operating losses deepen

#26
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anytime Spotify makes money the music labels up their prices. Music streaming is not that great of a business model.

What about the podcast space? They already invested hundreds of millions on Joe Rogan and can't even develop a half-decent podcast interface. Maybe they could improve on that front and diversify a bit?

I too have been perplexed by how second-class podcasts are on there.

Re: Spotify passes 500M active users as operating losses deepen

#27
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about the podcast space? They already invested hundreds of millions on Joe Rogan and can't even develop a half-decent podcast interface. Maybe they could improve on that front and diversify a bit?

The thinking may have been that they cannot make money from music, but maybe podcasts could be profitable.

They will be met with resistance. Podcasts were always free, many even long time listeners will drop podcast instead of paying for it…

Also podcasts were offline by design, I know times change, but still it’s too early…

Re: Spotify passes 500M active users as operating losses deepen

#28

I tried to convince my son to try the spotify premium which is currently 3 months free trial. He said he does not need another service on top of YouTube premium and Apple Music even if it’s free. He’s not wrong. I’m not sure how a music only service can survive on its own- I often switch between videoclips, songs, podcasts with video or not, all on YouTube. Another app/service for just some of these things is not con…

If you don't have apple stuff it's pretty obvious choice.

Apple Music does work on android and non-Mac computers
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