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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%

#451

Post by jpalawaga »

mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #40

I often wonder what kind of work actually happens at Spotify. Pretty much every major change to the software or api since I started using it has made the product worse. Breaking libspotify, pointless UI redesigns, obvious, user-facing bugs that go unfixed for years. Removing features like play queue for long periods. There's metadata errors and even audio corruption in some albums that I actually reported to them yea…

The start a jam and speaker sharing functionality is partly new and partly old. What is definitely new is that it works well now and doesn’t glitch out.

For better or for worse, Spotify has a lot of customized playlists. At some point, the “workout” playlist playlist stopped being a regular global playlist and started being one customized for individual users.

Their “keep playing more like this” functionality that takes over after the playlist ends is quite good, as is smart shuffle which will mix in tracks that “belong” in the playlist even.

Some songs will play artist uploaded music videos when you play their songs. Their “now playing” widget now shows a larger album art and background information about the band.

I don’t know what happened to the lyrics all of those years, but I’m guessing it was a licensing issue. A random add on is different from first party application support for all of your users, globally.

It’s possible you don’t use any of this and think it’s a waste of time. That’s fine. I think Spotify is seamlessly stitching in extra functionality in non-annoying ways, which I like.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#453

Post by matchbok »

1letterunixname wrote: post #118
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.

Yep. Maximizing fuck-over of employees. Tech workers need to stop working for corporations they don't own, aren't seeing the profits of, and who will just throw them away at any moment. The solution are businesses in the form of employee-owned co-ops and organized labor.

Or Spotify could have not taken the risk a couple years ago and never hired them. Which is what would have happened in your scenario. (No dynamism)

Businesses take risks. Part of that includes hiring people for things that may not work out. It's really not that hard.

And "fuck-over"? Please. 5 months of salary with no work? Actual working class people would go nuts for that. Get a reality check bud.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#454

Post by thepablohansen »

ulfw wrote: post #448
Hakeemmidan wrote: post #445

Why do these mass layoffs keep happening in the software industry? Or is this a global phenomenon that exists across all industries?

Only to a small extend. Mostly it happens in software. And no it's not just "overhiring" (that doesn't happen across so many industries). That's only part of it. We all know with AI we won't need white collar jobs anymore. If I had children I wouldn't allow them to study CS. Not anymore.

What would you have them study instead? If you're optimizing for what AI is least likely to be able to accomplish, some forms of blue collar labor would probably rank highest on the list.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#455

Post by dubcanada »

Hakeemmidan wrote: post #445

Why do these mass layoffs keep happening in the software industry? Or is this a global phenomenon that exists across all industries?

Software industry is a giant bubble 90% of the time, so it's usually the first one to go. But no most industries seem to be hiring averagely to better then average at least as per the JOLTs report.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#456

Post by acdha »

TapWaterBandit wrote: post #22
rob74 wrote: post #14

> Yet, considering the gap between our financial goal state and our current operational costs, I decided that a substantial action to rightsize our costs was the best option to accomplish our objectives. or, otherwise said: "we fired you to make our bottom line look nicer"

Eh, what's the alternative? Some people have this weird attitude that businesses are not allowed to shrink/fail. Businesses can only ever go one direction and that is more headcount, otherwise give them govt bailout. Businesses need to be able to grow and shrink. Otherwise we just end up with "too big to fail".

It’s not that businesses can never shrink but that it should be considered and linked to a specific reason (e.g. a change in business strategy or consumer preferences). If they were, say, RIM a decade ago, layoffs would make sense once they had no path back into the consumer market and also were bleeding cash to the point where they soon wouldn’t be able to make payroll. When the Cold War ended, manufacturing layoffs were inevitable at some of the big defense contractors because the market for stealthy aircraft shrunk and nobody else needed to buy them.

A layoff this large means one of two things: the management screwed up on an epic scale (and should be the first to go) or it’s just giving investors a short-term stock boost at the expense of long-term success. Broad layoffs are usually bad for companies long-term because they signal both a lack of management skills and mean that everyone still working there is going to be worried about another round, so politics and making yourself harder to replace will consume a certain amount of otherwise productive time.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#457

Post by skywhopper »

I suppose I appreciate that the CEO was mostly honest about the goals and what the business actually values. “Supporting work”, ie operations, maintenance, etc is considered worthless. Near term financial ROI is the only metric that is important. Investments in the long term health of the business and treating employees with respect are of no consequence.

We all know this is true, but so few layoff announcements are willing to spell it out.

That said, the thing that’s missing is accountability of the executives. They overhired and overinvested in 2020-21. Where is the accountability for their massive failure of leadership?

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#458

Post by kderbyma »

I predicted this......their API v2......that was all I needed to see you know they were firing a lot of people......they need to get profit somehow and they have no knowledge at the top....so they do what all dumb companies do....flounder until someone saves them....so cut cut cut.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#459

Post by acdha »

s3p wrote: post #396
thiago_fm wrote: post #3

They need a bigger cut. 17% will not have a big enough impact to its bottom line. They need to have enough money to invest in other initiatives, as the business they are in is proven to be margin-thin. Apple and Amazon will eventually eat Spotify given enough time, if they don't find a moat to be built

Moat??? Spotify has the largest userbase period. Paying or non paying. Apple and Google haven’t been able to take their market share.

How much profit does Apple make versus Spotify per user? Android has had a larger user base but that hasn’t made it more profitable.

Re: Spotify will reduce total headcount by approximately 17%

#460

Post by matchbok »

1letterunixname wrote: post #124
ath3nd wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's about appearing efficient to the investors and therefore bumping the stock price and giving a payout to the few big stockholdets, rather than real efficiency. They go through a round of this routinely now, it seems, the letter is more or less the same as what he sent during last year, only percentages of laid off are different. That new version that ChatGPT generated made it more fluffy than last time. If they w…

Yep. Business theater. It's about stepping on the necks of working people to suppress wages and "teach them a lesson" they probably won't learn.

That's.... not how things work. (Maybe on DSA Twitter, but not in the real world lol)
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