211–220 of 1001 posts
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> Spotify reported that it had 9,400 employees at the end of the third quarter of 2023. It had already cut back employee numbers by 6% in January and by a further 2% in June.
I wonder what they were all doing. Their special apps, like the iWatch, are below par and they are pretty much the last service that doesn't offer HQ audio. AI does most of the editorial playlist generation. What are nearly 10K people doing?
Looks like Benn Jordan's analysis on how Spotify will fail is slowly starting to materialize: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDfNRWsMRsU
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In addition to the technical work of keeping the servers running and the infra reliable, there is probably a great deal of work getting content licensing deals, working on marketing, managing the whole edifice, and stuff like that. They need a huge number of content “suppliers” to get basically every song in every country. They undoubtedly have a large number of developers working on apps for every platform, keeping…
> They undoubtedly have a large number of developers working on apps for every platform Yes, if they were at the cutting edge on every platform and constantly adding innovative new features, that could certainly explain 500 of the 9000 employees. But that still leaves 8,500 employees unexplained.
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I mean, yeah. How many engineers do you need? 5-6 for the backend, 3-4 DevOps, maybe some more for the various frontends... say, 20? I can't imagine the whole thing can't be done with between 30 to 50 engineers in total. And everyone else, what do they do? Cold calls to the entire planet to go subscribe, or what? Also alright, some lawyers and "compliance" people, financiers, marketers,... Don't know. I'd struggle to…
Spotify has a lot of front ends to manage, I think more than 20 would be required. Mobile (iOS, Android), web, vehicle native integrations (Tesla, Volvo, VW, BMW, Audi, Ford), gaming (Xbox, Switch, PS4, PS5), desktop (Mac, Windows, Linux, Chromebook) and voice assistants (Alexa, Google). Maintaining that variety of front ends must be very labour intensive.
TVs, Wifi connected speakers, home theater systems, Chromecast etc.
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There's at least one team devoted to screwing up the homepage, pushing content that I don't want like podcasts. Will not miss them.
200m on Rogan has caused more than few of my friends to drop spotify permanently because they couldn't get him off their home screen recommendation for months. If only one engineer added a dismiss button.
I wonder how those losing their jobs feel about Spotify's reported $200 million investment in Joe Rogan now.
It was and still is a stupid decision to buy Joe Rogan. I don't get why people listen to him... He is not funny nor smart. It sometimes feels you get better value when watching morning tv shows...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In addition to the technical work of keeping the servers running and the infra reliable, there is probably a great deal of work getting content licensing deals, working on marketing, managing the whole edifice, and stuff like that. They need a huge number of content “suppliers” to get basically every song in every country. They undoubtedly have a large number of developers working on apps for every platform, keeping…
> They undoubtedly have a large number of developers working on apps for every platform Yes, if they were at the cutting edge on every platform and constantly adding innovative new features, that could certainly explain 500 of the 9000 employees. But that still leaves 8,500 employees unexplained.
Looks like Benn Jordan's analysis on how Spotify will fail is slowly starting to materialize: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDfNRWsMRsU
Would love a tl;dw. How does he predict the fail will materialize?
"The video starts by talking about how Spotify has become the dominant force in the music industry. In 2018, Spotify had over 200 million users and was paying out over $5 billion in royalties to artists. However, the video also points out that Spotify is not a very profitable company. In fact, Spotify has lost money every year since it was founded in 2006.
So, how does Spotify make money? The answer is that Spotify makes money by selling advertising. In 2018, Spotify generated over $1.2 billion in advertising revenue. This means that Spotify is essentially a media company that just happens to also offer music streaming.
The video also discusses the impact of streaming on artists. On the one hand, streaming has made it easier for people to discover new music. This can be a good thing for artists, as it can help them to reach a wider audience. On the other hand, streaming has also led to a decline in album sales. This is because people are no longer willing to pay $10 or $20 for an album when they can stream it for free on Spotify.
As a result of this, many artists are now struggling to make a living from their music. In fact, a study by the Berklee College of Music found that the median income for a full-time musician in the United States is just $20,000 per year.
So, what does the future hold for the music industry? The video argues that the music industry is in a state of flux. It is unclear how artists will be able to make a living in the future, and it is also unclear how Spotify will be able to continue to grow its business."
Looks like Benn Jordan's analysis on how Spotify will fail is slowly starting to materialize: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDfNRWsMRsU
Would love a tl;dw. How does he predict the fail will materialize?
That is why Spotify are desperately trying to produce their own content, most notably in the podcast space, and I suspect why they also recently branched out into audiobooks, as every hour spent listening to an audiobook displaces a dozen or so royalty-generating song plays.