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Apple Music Competitor Spotify Lays Off Over 1,000 Employees
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Because the holidays is a time when many people want to relax and spend time with family, not stressing about finding work and losing access to benefits. The 5 months severance pay isn't bad, but it's still not a great move on the employer's part.
I hope the remainder of their staff leaves for other companies. This is poor business practice (‘hired too many people…to do too little — essentially what this prick said) — and the C-suite made those poor decisions, despite their continually poor returns each quarter. I wouldn’t stay there any longer as they have shown they consider their serfs/employees to be disposable. And at the holidays. Yet I’m sure they expect ‘loyalty’ and enthusiasm from their employees. I don’t have enough curse words for people like this. Sociopaths.I doubt it's anything to do with that. Spotify has never been profitable (because of their flawed business model), and this has nothing to do with Apple or their App Store rules.
It's quite ironic when you think about the companies accusing Apple of being a monopoly.
Epic Games - https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/new...tnite-players-who-were-charged-unwanted-items
Spotify - what's their excuse when users are not no longer able to subscribe in-app? They just had a bad business model and were trying to distract investors from the reality of the situation.
Hey - A university recently stopped subscribing to Basecamp because of controversial remarks made by one of the company's founders, DHH.
Why We're Dropping Basecamp - Duke University Libraries Blogs
We at Duke University Libraries have decided to stop using the project management platform, Basecamp, to which we have subscribed for almost a decade. We came to this decision after weighing the level of its use in our organization, which is considerable, against the harms that we see...blogs.library.duke.edu
I wonder what the mood is like for the remaining employees. Sure, they get to keep their job, but when you consider that Spotify hasn't been profitable, you have to wonder just how long they can afford to keep the gig running, and whether they should also start looking at an exit plan. It may also mean more work spread out amongst fewer employees, and just heightened tension and lower morale overall.
At least the personnel retrenched get some extra money to tide them over the next few months while they look for another job (and hopefully they do). If anyone else wanted to do the same at this point, they get nothing.
The C-suite is taking home huge salaries, stock options, and bonuses every year, loss (no profit) or loss after loss! They pay artists — the actual value-creators — almost nothing, or even nothing(!), and cry they ‘can’t make money.’ Sounds like stupidity somewhere in that organization. How many years have they been in existence??
It’s not like Netflix, where they actually had to invest hundreds of billions of dollars to CREATE new content for global audiences. What DID Spotify do with those billions in revenue?
Also just changed over from monthly Apple Music to yearly, in order to get in with the discount and 2023 pricing (before the hike)!
Because instead of spending quality time with their family while kids are off school, mommy or daddy are going to be applying to jobs for 8 hours a day to fight and ensure they have something lined up before their severance ends.
Winter break is going to be a lot of kids sitting on iPads while parent cries in between job applications. Not fun for anyone.
Because being unemployed right before the year ends is not good?
Impressive a struggling business can give 5 months severance. A lot of videos on YouTube describe why Spotify is failing so employees must be aware all is not good.
Hmmm. Often times those are the employees that clean up the messes and make things more efficient. I’ve been that employee, and it’s still a part of my current job. Often it isn’t when I start and then I become that guy out of necessity. I’m pretty good at documenting process and creating standard operating procedures. This often identifies underlying issues and helps to streamline workflow so there is better communication, less task duplication, automation of repetitive tasks, standardization of tasks so nothing is missed, etc.
I swear every job I get is total hell from all the chaos and stress swirling around me and then within a few years I’ve cleaned up my team to the point where I’m almost bored but have a perfect work life balance. But in the end it saves the company a lot of time and resources and then I’m able to handle a much higher workload without issue so we scale a lot better. Then after a bit I climb the ladder to somewhere else, and I’m getting that itch again, even though everything is great.
I hope these people are able to find work quickly elsewhere. They probably helped setup Spotify to be in a position where they can run leaner. I know a lot of tech companies over hired during COVID and this is yet another ripple from that time. But I also think Spotify is losing the battle somewhat. Apple Music has some really compelling features they can’t match and Spotify has been massively over spending on weirdo podcasters like Joe Rogan.
…and there are people wondering why I don't use Spotify. I now have one more reason on my list...
So how many companies that fired people dont get your support? Apple has fired people. You stopped using their products?
In the very least, you don’t hear Apple publicly talk about jettisoning their employees like deadweight.
All that will happen is that the 1000 lay off's will reduce the company wage bill which will in turn show the company has made a profit which will in turn mean the company directors and other senior managers getting their pay rises and bonuses because the company turned a profit at the expense of 1000 people having to lose their jobs.
According to Ek, Spotify took on too many employees in 2020 and 2021, and while that led to increased output and company growth, it also made Spotify less efficient and increased operating costs. Spotify has too many people "dedicated to supporting work" and "doing work around the work" rather than "contributing to opportunities with real impact."
The above quote succinctly describes what happened to many tech companies during the pandemic. They simply over hired. I got laid off last year for the same predicament. Too many employees creating redundancies. Got to the point where we turned into an over bloated organization where we actually just created needless work for each other. Getting laid off always sucks but in hindsight I had a miserable existence in the last 6 months to a year on the job. I am now happy to have put that job behind me. And hey at least these folks are getting a really good 5 month severance package. All I got was hey now you can file for unemployment and sign up for COBRA.
The above quote succinctly describes what happened to many tech companies during the pandemic. They simply over hired. I got laid off last year for the same predicament. Too many employees creating redundancies. Got to the point where we turned into an over bloated organization where we actually just created needless work for each other. Getting laid off always sucks but in hindsight I had a miserable existence in the last 6 months to a year on the job. I am now happy to have put that job behind me. And hey at least these folks are getting a really good 5 month severance package. All I got was hey now you can file for unemployment and sign up for COBRA.
Their main problem is almost everyone else is offering Loss Less Audio. They promised it years ago, I for one got tired of waiting, I canceled my many years long account about a year ago. I assume from the online complaints about no Loss Less has caused many other subscribers to cancel as well. Maybe in the millions. If they don't keep up with technology, they will slowly die.
Naaa, I'd be shocked if >10% of Apple Music subscribers use lossless. I don't.
I guess it's a good bullet point, but it doesn't matter to the vast majority of people.
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