Why Spotify’s “Grand Strategy” Will Fail

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Disclaimer: PolyMatter is available on Spotify. We have no special relationship with the company and have thus far earned a total of $4.75 from the platform. That said, it only feels right to let you know that we technically have a (very small) financial interest in the company. Audible, an audiobook competitor, has sponsored videos from this channel in the past. Skillshare, which has partnered with Spotify for its learning courses, has also sponsored this channel. Finally, nothing in this video is intended as investment advice.

[@JoshChristiane]

We are living in a weird in-between age where Software companies can be worth billions and never post a profit.

[@johnl.7754]

If inflation/interest rate don’t come back down then profitability will be very important

[@MyImprov]

In between what? Do you expect this problem to go away?

[@uniktbrukernavn]

And they can do it for decades and no one bats an eye.

[@manhoosnick]

​@@johnl.7754 true but even with low inflation and 0% rates..they never made a buck

[@humanperson8418]

That 'in-between age' is called a bubble. It's a feature not a bug.

[@eyevou]

"hours" isn't a good way to market audiobooks. I would rather pick a single book to add from a library for free listening on the go each month than worry about "hours". i never touch their books section because of this.

[@Jack-496]

My immediate thought too. I’m sure they stuck with hours for a reason though, probably more profitable for them and crappier for users at the same time.

[@dougpatterson7494]

Is that not how Audible works?

[@spencercarruth9706]

@@dougpatterson7494 Nope. You purchase whole books on Audible, not listening hours like what Spotify is doing. Apple Books works the same as Audible as well.

[@adamnemo42]

​@@dougpatterson7494 In my experience with Audible you pay a monthly fee and get credits. You can buy audiobooks for their listed price or spend a credit. Then it's yours forever. Getting so many hours to listen to audiobooks month is not a subscription model I'm familiar with in the service.

[@notyrpapa]

@@dougpatterson7494no - on Audible you buy ‘credits’, which are equal to the value of one book. I’m using Spotify for now, as free is better than paid, but it’s very frustrating to be cut off mid-chapter. As PolyMatter says, it makes you feel like audiobooks are worth less by packaging them alongside songs, which means I’m not really interested in paying for more credits now, whereas beforehand I would pay for an Audible subscription.

[@gruffysnuggles]

With the recent DOJ suit against Live Nation, I can 100% see Spotify jumping at the opportunity of becoming a ticketing site. It already has the "live events" feature that would seamlessly tie in with top artists, provided they give a marginally better deal than what Live Nation does, which is not hard to do at the minute.

[@Tommorow1994]

I can see google, amazon and apple gunning for that pie as well and spotify cant compete with those guys' piggy banks.

[@chiraggupta2645]

@@Tommorow1994 spotify has brand value for music that the other companies don't, that holds value. "Netflix and chill" is a big reason why netflix remains basically the only clearly succesful streaming service. First mover advantage is a big deal. Its why apple is one of the biggest company on earth (iPhone)

[@texanfournow]

Whenever someone uses the word "seamlessly" I choke a little bit.

[@yunleung2631]

This would be a game changer. It would enable them to promote musicians I already listen to to support them easily!! win win

[@yunleung2631]

@@Tommorow1994 Google, Amazon, and Apple all literally have competing products against Spotify. Spotify hasn't lost yet. And if they do it well, I don't see why I wouldn't just buy a ticket there. It's the network effect.

[@SpektralJo]

The problem is the insane power lables have, not only over Spotify but artists as well

[@fujinshu]

Agreed, it seems that Spotify is just trying to desperately make a profit somewhere while the record labels are simple money parasites of a bygone era that leech off their artists' hard work. If only they unionised further and did what Hollywood did last year...

[@makisekurisu4674]

Why the fuck does music artist still exists. Why not just run away and drive trucks or something

[@lbgstzockt8493]

The worse part is when record labels use their deep pockets and influence to create laws that are highly beneficial for them under the guide of being for the common good. Especially things like copyright are blown way out of proportions so this oligopoly can continue to create millions, while providing dubious or even negative value to the average citizen

[@afonsoabreu5144]

I am completely shocked to know that the EU has not yet fined these 3 companies for monopolistic practices directly or indirectly in the European market. (Especially because Apple itself was fined 2 billion because of Apple Music vs Spotify battle he talked in the video)

[@fubytv731]

The problem is the consumer actually, since no one wants to practically pay a single cent for listening to music.

[@FullLengthInterstates]

Artists pulling content has been incredibly tragic. Whatever their reason, audio streaming as a whole will suffer. As more of the music in my "library" gets greyed out, I become more interested in returning to the offline library that I have full control over.

[@NitzanBueno]

Musicians mostly make money from tours anyway. Successful musicians can get away with pulling their content and even everyone pirating their stuff - as long as they want to come to the shows.

[@theviniso]

I never liked the whole idea of having my music tied to an app or to an internet connection so I've always downloaded everything I like as mp3 files. It takes a little effort to mantain it all but it's more than worth it considering I'll never have to worry about these licencing shenanigans.

[@sidhantjasrotia7079]

Do flac​@@theviniso

[@kingofhearts3185]

Audio files are really small too, not hard to keep a lot of them on my phone.

[@KitnaMW]

@@theviniso it's infinitely more time consuming if you need to do so on multiple devices (like mobile + PC) and for tracks that just got released/game soundtracks. Also it takes shitton of disk space if you want audio with actually good quality, and then you also have a problem of finding the tracks with right extension and not some .mp3 junk. I don't like to use a streaming service which can one day just get my favorite tracks to get greyed out, but alternative is too much of a hassle to me right now. I'm just not willing to spend hours on finding thousands of tracks i like, sorting them into playlists, and then keep updating them on both my devices.

[@PatMeizzner]

maybe add a tier system so I could CHOOSE to listen audiobooks and podcast and or just a music

[@B3Band]

If they are making that level of investment, the last thing they're going to do is give you a chance to opt out, especially if you think you're entitled to a discount for doing so.

[@andreylucass]

Apple, Google and Amazon are trillion dollar companies that don't depend exclusively on streaming revenue. Those three will eventuality buy Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, Qobuz etc.

[@rubennavasardyan3501]

Deezer is a sister company of Warner Music. I don't think the conglomerate that owns both is about to sell it since it's their way of retaining a small degree of control over the music streaming industry. Even if it loses them money.

[@MIKAEL212345]

the US is really amping up their anti monopoly lawsuits so I doubt any of those purchases would get approved. those companies might avoid even trying to buy spotify to avoid the regulatory heat.

[@shanep.7184]

Why buy when you can just build a competing product.

[@juniorbitare3041]

No… these companies will eventually just go bankrupt anyway .

[@Marcos-yd2iz]

Absolutely not happening. Would be a huge antitrust issue

[@caniblmolstr452]

All Spotify needs to do is become a music label

[@kosmosXcannon]

That's what Netflix did

[@atgctg]

Spotify can’t launch their own label because their contracts with record companies prevent them from competing, allowing labels to pull their music licenses if Spotify tries. Source: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIuvpGasadKYes0

[@kyledanish9292]

A record label could feel threatened and not renew a contract with Spotify. This did happen with Netflix when HBO pulled content. The difference with Netflix is that they started early, so when HBO pulled out, there were no other streaming companies. However, with Spotify, if one major record label pulled out, people will go to Apple Music or KZbin Music

[@tHebUm18]

... and successfully go under to be purchased for peanuts by Amazon, Apple, or Google.

[@thomaslisankie342]

That's exactly what I was thinking when watching this video.

[@SOFTWAREMASTER]

Just on time when Spotify cancelled car thing lmao

[@AshnSilvercorp]

The $90 brick...

[@robertpoole5652]

I like my Car Thing too, so the fact they are discontinuing it really bothers me.

[@AshnSilvercorp]

@@robertpoole5652 you should probably ask for your money back or charge it back. Payment processors will ask questions if that happens.

[@theonlydiego1]

@@AshnSilvercorp it was being sold for $30 usd at one point

[@lance_374]

@@theonlydiego1 they probably sold it at that price because they were already planning on shutting it down and wanted to get rid of whatever they had left by ripping people off.

[@generichoi4leader437]

With them canceling the car thing, I don't think anyone is going to trust any future tech that they make.

[@AlysterDrake]

which car thing

[@Fe22234]

​@@AlysterDrakeit is called car thing.

[@bluebay0]

@@AlysterDrake Car Thing is a recently discontinued physical Spotify music player.

[@MrWesleyDP]

The Audio book thing is batshit crazy. Who thinks of a book in terms of listening time instead of ...ya know the book?

[@giuwuseppe]

because books can be 2 hours long or 80 hours long

[@Gdsamplify]

@@giuwuseppe Mr Wesley Dumb Person

[@sexyscientist]

Audible also classifies them into four based on their listening time.

[@jakob5643]

It's not crazy though. It's not like you religiously finish every book you start. Many books sucks ass, especially novels, which means if you paid $12 for a book and it sucks, you'll likely won't spend it for a while. Meanwhile, if you can browse more, it does make sense.

[@darth_kal-el]

⁠​⁠@@jakob5643no. It doesn’t.

[@liquidiced]

@12:50, that lane change was durrttyy

[@shadowtaco69]

fr ‼️‼️

[@brennenhorton2493]

Guessing that was Houston, Texas traffic

[@King_Gamer_1st]

Brilliant timing considering the "Car Thing" thing

[@tahasilat7394]

what "car thing" thing?

[@multiinc]

​@@tahasilat7394 they're shutting down all car thing things by next year

[@mimikyoo]

Google "Spotify Car Thing"

[@caml1140]

@@tahasilat7394 spotify announced yesterday that they are discontinuing support for the car thing at the end of 2024. people that paid $90 for it will end up with a useless piece of plastic

[@WarriorWildhead1337]

I still have no idea what that was about

[@KC-Mitch]

Most audiobooks are already free. It’s called your local library. You can only check out a few per month, but unlike movies and music, they take so long to finish that it really isn’t a problem for most people.

[@kerapetsedireko]

I think they missed out on an opportunity to be the brand people think about when they get wireless headphones.

[@amusik7]

Me and my friend went to a music business school years before Spotify or any streaming existed and we came up with the concept because we saw smart phones making it possible. We worked on the business plan for months but there was no way we could ever make the math work so that it would be a profitable business and so that artists could earn a living from it so we never pursued it. It’s hilarious that Spotify to this date has never turned a profit. But I was wrong about the utility of it - Spotify has increased the revenues of the industry and brought it back in that sense even though it keeps on losing money.

[@fanban2926]

They'll be profitable soon enough, latest quarter was great.

[@Unrelatableness]

@@fanban2926 how do you think they will achieve that?

[@fanban2926]

@@Unrelatableness Cost cutting

[@santostv.]

Spotify needs to realize that unfortunately they will never be a major company, but unfortunately is not the way you do it in Silicon Valley,so the money makers will still get wealthy meanwhile small investors will get wrecked and they don’t care. In their world you don’t need to have profits to make money,I’m jealous to be honest 😂

[@fanban2926]

@@santostv. Profits are required one day, it can just be far out.

[@davidprocopio5833]

You miss one thing! There is only a set amount of listening time someone has! Which means that any minute spent listening to an audiobook isn’t spent listening to music. So the bet that Spotify making is to make as useful an app as possible while growing how competitive it is amounts content creators so that you have podcasters, studios, and audiobooks all competing for your listening minutes

[@bluebay0]

It would seem Spotify does not think this is a problem because they must imagine that any user would only listen to so much music in a day. By getting into audiobooks those same users could spend more time on the app. And what about people that consume one or the other form of content exclusively? Bringing in audiobooks must have attracted a certain kind of consumer that would never have bothered with a music app.

[@Sundji]

@@bluebay0 Yeah, podcasts and audiobooks definitely increased my time on the app

[@bluebay0]

@@Sundji Thank you. While that supports my point, I have to admit it is anecdotal.

[@m1thun27]

It's nice to see polymatter back with a technology related video again.

[@multiinc]

ikr it was all geopolitics for a while

[@fundoo203]

​@@multiincno it was all china

[@mhmahasoso]

As a yearlong iPhone user I’ve given Apple Music a try but it’s just not for me. Spotify is just so more personalized and you can seamlessly switch between your iPhone, your iPad, your pc and a random smart speaker. Apple Music got no chance there and I’ve to simply say that Spotify is the by far the better option

[@smnbrgss]

I don’t use Apple Music either. I tried using Spotify again a couple years ago but didn’t like the UI, how un-user friendly it is for their “free” version, and in one update how the liked playlist operated. I tried KZbin Music and never looked back.

[@ArthurAtlas]

I swapped over to KZbin Music, which can be a bit less convenient in places, due to not having a dedicated desktop or console application, but I was paying for KZbin Premium anyways, so essentially it allowed me to reduce costs by dropping Spotify and the service is good aside from the aforementioned problems.

[@ArthurAtlas]

Also I hate the Spotify app and its ever loading menus, they really don'T know how to build an app with decent performance

[@mhmahasoso]

@@ArthurAtlas are you on android? I’ve never had an issue with the app on my devices. The only crash I could frequently trigger was if I clicked on shuffle 20-30 times as I was never happy with the result. That kept killing the app lol

[@mhmahasoso]

@@smnbrgss got YT music too, preferably use it for live concerts. The rest via Spotify premium. Never got warm with how YT music looks and works , way more complicated than Spotify imo

[@chad9971]

As a user of Spotify, I appreciate music, podcasts, and audiobooks being in one spot. I left Apple Music for Spotify back in like 2016. Tried out Apple Podcasts around 2018-2019 but stuck to podcasts on Spotify. Left Audible for Spotify audiobooks. I'm sure not everyone is like me, but I find it very convenient to listen to everything on Spotify. With that being said, it is annoying having that hard-stops on audiobooks. When I hit the limit, I listen to informational podcasts...or just read a physical book from my shelf or the library lol.

[@magicboxhead9448]

At least for me I stuck with Audible since it’s so much cheaper, I can get a 50 dollar audiobook for 12 bucks using credits

[@chad9971]

@@magicboxhead9448 yea spotify is drunk to think ima pay for unlimited audiobooks. And with that, I have the family plan with my girlfriend and brothers added, so its cheaper for us to all use one app than piecemeal other audio apps.

[@Cybersawz]

@@magicboxhead9448 $9.21 if you buy 5 credits for $46.

[@wesleysanders8570]

me too!

[@BD-lq4id]

the future will be introducing fan subscriber service. Similar to patreon, twitch subs, "join" on youtube. Spotify will introduce the ability to directly subscribe/support to favorite artists for a monthly cost with a portion going to the artist/label and a portion going to spotify for facilitating. The industry has been talking about this now for a bit.

[@jedimmj11]

This is a terrible idea. Most songs I listen to are the only song I like from that artist. I'm not gonna pay them a subscription to access that one song

[@nehalilisays]

​@@jedimmj11I think it's meant to be an additional thing for either some exclusive stuff or just as a way to show support to your favourite (indie) artist. But they already have something similar with that donation link in some artists' profiles.

[@byzameli]

So theyre becoming myspace

[@pedro.alcatra]

Absolutely not. I would never pay a creator to do its thing.

[@technetium9653]

Spotify is the worst of both worlds of KZbin and Netflix, it has the legacy media companies who want to and can strong-arm and leverage their power on Spotify and small creators who can get squeezed out

[@Johnny_Savage]

Spotify also has bad sound quality compared to YT Music.

[@jensenraylight8011]

No, Spotify is a Godsent, i listen to Spotify for 24/7, and can't live without it. KZbin and Spotify are the only thing i can't live without, Netflix on the other hand, i can deal with that. and unlike Netflix, Content on Spotify aren't Fragmented yet. KZbin music is just too cluttered and it didn't have a lot of Spotify advanced Playlisting Functionality for Musician, Spotify isn't your money making machine, if you think it's, then you played the game the wrong way. Musician earn money from selling merchandise, Live Performance and Touring, without spotify, they can barely get any listener because people need to shell out Money just to listen to some Nobody. There are a lot of Great Artists that i would otherwise won't know if i didn't use Spotify. It's up to Spotify to figure out how to make money, in other way, leveraging their Platform sure, if you want to go back to paying $3 a song or $25 for an album, then go ahead, delete your spotify but, i would rather seeing them Win than lose, because once they lose their domination Position, the Market will be Fragmented, all the other Platform will fight for Exclusivity, just like Netflix and Disney+

[@Root174]

@@Johnny_Savage Funny, I've heard people say the opposite. Sometimes, I feel like YTM is worse, but I have trouble telling. Although YTM sometimes adds user-uploaded content to your queue, even if it was a 'video'. Those can be more noticeable.

[@dmtree]

​@@Root174he's an audiophile and absolutely does not know what he's talking about. They both have about the same quality. Don't listen to audiophiles they are regarded

[@lance_374]

@@Johnny_Savage try turning off audio normalization. that is the worst feature to exist in any music app, it compresses the louder parts of songs to make them quieter and boosts the quieter parts of songs. Apple's sound check feature doesn't compress the songs, it just changes the volume of each individual song based on the overall volume of the song.

[@JSx145]

Spotify, among all the others, is emblematic of the commodification and enshitification of art… eventually, these companies will burn through all the VC funds, funds subsidized through profitable arms of their businesses, or debt, and will only leave destroyed creative industries in their wake.

[@foxooo]

Spotify needs to get into live events.

[@riceandpotatoes]

They are mildly. I buy concert tickets through their referral system

[@foxooo]

@@riceandpotatoes once Ticketmaster is broken up they reslly have a chance to offer discounts to subscribers

[@ehmzed]

Exactly, I don't get why Spotify can't start selling concert tickets on their own, instead of having to redirect customers to third party ticket selling websites

[@foxooo]

@@ehmzed cuz live nation has a monopoly

[@GhostSamaritan]

Like Tidal?

[@-Rishikesh]

Spotify should have started its own label company in its peak. That way you are vertical integrating and not dependent on others. It can even start today, lookout for real talent and spend money on them. Because if they do click and make it big, atleast they would have some brand loyality, untill unless spotify screws them over..

[@Tomi97_videos]

They can´t. The Big 3 Music labels would pull all their music off the platform the moment they try and effectively kill the company.

[@lost5748]

Spotify just raised their prices, again.

[@djp1234]

I would use their app if it wasn't trash. If it let me customize my own newsfeed and only updates from specific artists that I chose. But they don't want my money.

[@chancia8990]

YES YES YES their app simply doesn't work well at all even the paid option.

[@Tom_Nu]

Genuinely, Spotify has so much potential for just being an incredible hub of all your favourites and the things you may like. All they do is just rework their homepage with more things I and the majority of users will never click on or care about

[@PXAbstraction]

Almost like companies should have a viable business model before being able to get millions or billions of dollars in funding. Radical idea, I know.

[@Bunnyblaster12]

You say this, but no investor wants to miss out on the next Amazon. Will there be another thing that grows like Amazon is highly questionable.

[@PXAbstraction]

@@Bunnyblaster12 I get that, but what Spotify is selling and the costs associated with it are very different than what Amazon was trying to do. But it's funny how many investors won't spend the small amount of time needed to find out how things like podcasts and audiobooks are largely money pits before throwing millions at them.

[@guyanomaly]

@@Bunnyblaster12 So the game venture capitalists are playing is essentially buying lottery tickets, but the tickets are thousands to millions of dollars

[@davidk.d.7591]

​@@Bunnyblaster12Amazon's core business is barely profitable. Most of its money is made with AWS

[@FranciscoJG]

Stock markets were a mistake.

[@Gren-hawk]

This reminds me of the Spotify + Samsung smart speaker that just never seemed to have happened

[@boricns]

I've grown fond of Spotify, but lately, I've returned to purchasing music. While monthly payments are manageable when you frequently use the service, there are moments when you want to reduce expenses. However, letting go feels challenging because of the extensive playlists and songs accumulated over the years. It's like my memories are being held hostage, in a humorous way.

[@lambdalambdalambda818]

I feel like the audiobooks havn't really been brought to europe yet. I would love to have it here

[@chancia8990]

yes but full books not like 15 hours and the book is 16 hours long XD

[@TikkaQrow]

I listen to nearly ALL of my music directly on KZbin. Playlists, live streams, concert recordings, etc. (I really like to gravitate to copyright free or very indy stuff as i sometimes stream and don't like getting hit with DMCA stuff when i'm just playing a bit of Overwatch) There's some really good niche music i sometimes see (and even hear on the Local FM radio) that literally don't exist on streaming platforms; Only CD, FM radio, KZbin upload by the artist.

[@Gurumeierhans]

KZbin music lacks so much basic features unfortunately...

[@diskrisk9145]

Many services like Apple Music let you upload your own files for your own library and, unlike Spotify, fully integrate it into your library instead of living on a separate "Local Files" folder. Could be worth looking into if you find KZbin to miss features you'd want

[@---777---]

I remember my disappointment when i can't found on a Spotify that one remix that i love more than original track. (It's a Waveshaper - Escape to eternity Sir Ridley Remix).

[@realivanjx]

if you want content, ytm will always win. period.

[@shadowtaco69]

​@diskrisk9145 you can add your local files songs into playlists too tho

[@xd-fu6ry]

8:18 You really should not be using a mean for data that is not normally distributed. It’s somewhat misleading. Using the median of the data would be a far better choice.

[@sleepywolf1533]

Hi Poly - I wanted to write a comment about something. Spotify did in fact make a profit earlier this year. They announced it in their last investor reports. 68 million usd. Am I wrong?

[@user-bk4pm6me8i]

15:35 Spotify essentially functions as a fintech platform for record companies that hold its stocks .

[@gavinthecrafter]

Unpopular opinion: most people don't realize the way tech companies have operated has been at a loss, so they expect too much of that company for free. When companies take away features and users get angry, they're really just getting angry that the company is ACTUALLY TRYING TO TURN A PROFIT

[@RariettyC]

The thing is it's so much of a headache to transfer years of activity between music streaming platforms, especially if you compare music streaming to video streaming. I have no brand loyalty to Spotify, but I feel like I keep paying for Premium solely because the concept of moving all of the music I listens to sounds like a job. It's not like dropping Netflix for a month to pay for Disney+. Paying for Spotify feels less like an active choice and more like something I feel obligated to do, more like a bill than a product I'm eager to have, so any desperate attempt to obfuscate the basic function I pay Spotify to do just feels more like a pain to deal with than anything. There is nothing I could imagine them adding that would convince me to spend more money.

[@GhostSamaritan]

Spotify started off doing music streaming the best way, but they've fallen off. So many features are "missing" or suboptimal, because their competition has been putting in work. They should focus on their core business which is doing music streaming the best.

[@Jaxx.A.]

Also, isn't this one of the things that killed iTunes? A platform dedicated to music that added books, tv and movies, podcasts which no one asked for into a broken, buggy program?

[@danka1167]

Itunes fell out of favour due to spotify

[@SmileySadFaceHD]

I thought the insane amout on money dumped to get exclusive podcasts causing price increases was the dumbest thing I had ever seen until they did the same with audiobooks with even dumber price increases.

[@littlekirby6]

yeah Spotify can't keep doing this forever... I ended up canceling my subscription once I started listening to more podcasts than music. Originally I got into Spotify because you know, you can stream like any song, and Premium made it ad-free. But... that's for songs only. A lot of podcasts have ads hard baked in, and I can't really complain because you can't really take it out. But once you start serving me ads, not read by the hosts, based on my location, it's a step too far for me. If having Premium doesn't disable those types of ads, then what am I really paying for?

[@mikebauer6917]

Dumped my paid subscription recently. Either the “discovery” algorithm had a stroke, or I did, because it started to offer garbage. The shuffle option also forgot about what shuffle means.

[@srajandikshit7590]

Try YT music, it just repeats the 10 songs you have just listened. 🤡🤡

[@metalxmetalxmetalxmetalx]

It only pushes label artists the app is fkn cooked

[@mistymu8154]

The Spotify algorithm used to be good, but these past couple of years it has been really disappointing. It feels like Spotify promotes payola. And while Spotify recommendations are getting worse, the Apple Music recommendations are improving.

[@metalxmetalxmetalxmetalx]

@@mistymu8154 yea spotify have PayPola going on for sure. In the autoplay

[@UnknownCharacter458]

Random: at12:53 there's a silver minivan that does an extremely tight lane change, cutting off the black Toyota in the stock footage.

[@dkexpat2755]

Being held hostage was exactly how i felt as a Joe Rogan fan. Going from KZbin to Spotify was so shit, no comment section, no way of searching for specific episodes, no way to list them by most viewed etc. The web player stop working half of the time, nah Spotify aint for me. Never.

[@amushroomtrip]

my brother, the conclusion of the video cant also be a transition into an ad. blue balled me with it

[@alvaroSantisteban]

I'm super glad that you returned to this format of analysing the economical model of a company! That being said, I found strange that you didn't mention the investment that Spotifys CEO did on the military industry...

[@caseclosed9342]

I used to have Spotify Premium for years. I first got it way back in 2014 because I was in college and as a student they gave you premium for 2 bucks a month. I kept the subscription even after I graduated and paid more for it. I started with music but as time wore on I eventually moved to podcasts and in a couple of years I was mostly using it for podcasts. However, most podcasts I listen to are actually on KZbin anyway so when I started a free trial of KZbin Premium I started listening to everything on there. Finally, a couple of years ago I was having to cut costs so I dropped Spotify Premium. With all the podcasts and music on KZbin there was no point in paying for Spotify and what’s the point of audiobooks if they keep it that short? I’d rather pay for a full audiobook on Audible than listen to 15 hours and wait a month or end up paying what I would have paid for it on Audible anyway…

[@aafaq6134]

I was avoiding clicking on this video because of the thumbnail. I thought it was a spotify ad. But after it appeared 3 or 4 times on my home screen I looked at the channel name and found out it was an actual video from you.

[@JustChillinOnThe5thFloor]

Wish there was an actual fully open sourced decentralized way to share music. Were not their yet but someday we might be.

[@theforsakeen177]

sooner than you might think with how good AI is becoming at generating music

[@FranciscoJG]

@@theforsakeen177 I was about to add the obligatory rant against AI used in creative work, but then I remembered how most mainstream music is made so I have to admit you have a point.

[@wokekkk]

Soulseek qt exists

[@spartida3850]

look up soul seek! if u prefer a ui, look up nicotine+ as well, i think that might be what you’re lookin for :3

[@AshnSilvercorp]

Labels would have to be ringed in to do that. They just want to sit on IPs as investments instead of actually selling products.

[@JK_JK_JK_JK]

I still remember having to buy CDs and Cassettes and listen to them Walkmans and CD players! 😔

[@slipperywhale2167]

With the price of everything today, nobody can afford to buy a single hard copy to listen to one artist.

[@CzechingYoutube]

@@slipperywhale2167 That's why we bought 2nd hand back when CDs were a thing

[@AruthaSilverthorn]

I now describe these as antique technology to my 5 year old daughter

[@uniktbrukernavn]

Jesus you're old. I own an Aiwa hs-p505mkii cassette player. I think it still works but the lead battery is dead 🧓

[@B3Band]

Yeah, and it sucked. It's nothing to be proud of. Labels had even more power back then than they have today. Remember when we had no idea if an album was going to be good? We had to just throw $10-20 bucks at it and hope the rest of the album was as good as the one or two radio hits? It absolutely sucked to spend $15 for one album from one artist and have to carry them all with you without damaging them.

[@prettypic444]

I don’t get the whole propriety audiobook thing. I can get audiobooks on my phone *for free* from my public library’s app and listen for as long as I want!

[@prithibibiswas6681]

Love the company analysis video 👍 We're so back!

[@Finlay-sg4qs]

0:39 is a very misleading graph. This is based on founding year of the company, not the year they became "unicorns". The issue is that older companies will have had more time to gain valuation and so are more likely to be "unicorns".

[@Mikivli]

they should make albums with 3 exclusive Spotify songs added that is split between artist and Spotify. that can unlocked with a “donation” that also gives you a tshirt or something. which tracks that are paid for stay in account “purchase” even if premium is cancelled 🤔

[@Zero_Contradictions]

10:17: The graph is mis-titled. It should be "Audiobook Listeners".

[@CreativeMindsAudio]

What Spotify DOES have is a 15% investment from the major record labels. Their latest anti-music behavior - first podcasts and now audiobooks as you mentioned - and anti indie behaviors: no song earns money until the month it hits 1k plays and saying AI generated songs is okay to have on the platform and promote for a more saturated market for independent musicians, it's clear it will be doomed soon. I say go with apple music, youtube, tidal, or just like any other service. show with your money that spotify's decisions to not pay small artists is a bad one (yes they pay other royalties, but those things are more complicated than just giving a check). that being said i've earned a lot more from bandcamp than i have from streaming, but streaming is for long term revenue vs short term. in addition to the promotion it can create. i've had a lot of new listeners from youtube, but spotify has done nothing for me. it's a joke now. also as far as profit for spotify, it wouldn't be too tough to earn more money if they paid executives a bit less and didn't pay joe rogan (and others like you mentioned) hundreds of millions of dollars to be exclusive to the platform. it's a choice they made to not be profitable. also the comparison to netflix is not correct. actors and various people on set get paid royalties/residuals from the productions they work on and it used to be significant too.

[@BenMiner3220]

that van's merge at 12:56 was terrifying

[@stringzar]

how can i short spotify stock?

[@rufioh]

Spotify does audiobooks? And it’s an hours per month limit? Not a credit like with audible?

[@jakehix8132]

12:50 i feel like we watched that van squeeze in from multiple angles for literally no reason?

[@flightloungebeats]

spotify's going to be a textbook example for future music industry kids about how not to run a music business lmao

[@meepswag35]

one reason they can't raise prices, is that people will just go to the other companies if they do, since then those companies are cheaper

[@HOUB]

They’re about music, they should broaden their reach in that industry only. Start selling artist merch, even tour tickets. Reward an artists top listeners with first opportunity at merch or tickets or a discount or something which could encourage fans to use Spotify over others. They could take on ticketmaster which people would love them for, probably. Apple Music has Spotify beat in pretty much every way except a couple.

[@djayjp]

Wall Street will be perfectly willing to finance them as long as revenue keeps expanding as it has.

[@joewillems1994]

The problem is, and always has been, the record labels they are greedy and steal huge sums from the artists they "represent"

[@lenowoo]

annoyed, is very apt description for my case. But saying there's no reason to listen in Spotify is huga ass bias. . And many people do prefer everything in one place. It literally have the most user.

[@SoEinTyp]

Can‘t they do four price categories? One plan for exclusively music (e.g. 10/month), one for exclusively podcasts (e.g. 5/month), one for exclusively audiobooks (e.g. 10/month) and one for all of them (e.g. 20/month)? They could provide good content in all of these categories and finance them with their own plans.

[@realericanderson]

:55 couldn’t find a top smartphone list from 2015 or was it just not as good for your story?

[@TV-8-301]

"One app has to have everything," that's exactly why I don't use Spotify, there's too much music they don't have. As far as I know, I can't just use them and fill in the gaps with mp3s, I don't know if the app can play locally stored files alongside their own. So it's an all-or-nothing deal. Plus, their access to particular artists can change at any time, whereas my locally stored mp3s can't be taken from me.

[@creamygg]

The app can, indeed, play locally stored files. There's an option in mobile settings to enable those files to show up in your Spotify library.

[@andan2293]

Yeah, "every song ever made", lol. I just have HDDs full of music (and piles of physical media) and don't have to deal with any apps, subscriptions, internet connection, bad compression etc...

[@Memecube]

​@@creamyggyeah and it works pretty seemlessly. It's cool to have playlists with both streamed and local songs

[@BaardFigur]

1:43 what are the Tidal numbers?

[@danielmarrs-gant9669]

Spotify already does charge for the free hours, in the UK at least you can save £1/2 a month by downgrading to “Basic” which is what premium was before audiobooks were added

[@tonytins]

I remember getting an email about "Car Thing" from Spotify. I was confused and curious all at the same time.

[@AshnSilvercorp]

you should probably ask for your money back with a chargeback. They sold you a brick.

[@tonytins]

@@AshnSilvercorp As curious as I was, I never brought it. Thankfully.

[@EstablishedContext]

6:13 and just 5 days ago Spotify raised their prices again by $1.00 lol

[@ryanvrieswyk7300]

Anyone else notice that the playlists in the stock footage go hard asf?

[@EspeonMistress00]

Wdym by the content being the same. It isn't. KZbin's library is much larger since in addition to the standard releases you also have access to covers performed by others, independent or license free music, concert and live performances. I can Download all of these along with video and audio podcasts, 1080p video essays using my YT Premium. Also ad free listening. I agree YT's Podcast interface is shit (Music id managable) but if they bring audiobooks too then I am not switching to Spotify

[@Inforza]

i love spotify, it is kinda the only subscription i have besides my phone, tv and internet subscriptions. But the reason for me isn't that i can listen to any music i want, but mostly that i can download dance music livesets and that i can listen to those livesets on my phone or any other device i got spotify on.

I had no idea there are audiobooks... Also I just checked and I can't find them anywhere on the app. Must be a regional thing.

[@codycast]

3:20 surprised to see digital become so small. But I guess once you can stream whatever you want whenever you want, no need to “own” the digital file.

[@WarriorWildhead1337]

I guess I'm in Spotify's target demographic for its "grand strategy." I do a lot of driving so I like being able to switch between my liked songs and the two podcasts I bother to keep up with on the fly depending on my mood, and it's actually gotten me to try out audiobooks for the first time this year. I still prefer print books but it's nice to listen to some books I'd otherwise not have read. Shame it still doesn't know how to recommend me new songs I'd like

[@4bSix86f61]

The Spotify homepage is as worse as it gets.

[@TomWatkeys]

I'm a musician first, businessman second. Take that billion dollars they spent (wasted) on podcasts, you could fund TEN THOUSAND indie up-and-coming artists at 100k each for record deals to your own label. You could then use your actual monopoly (music streaming) to put those artists on people's feeds more often. You keep all the label royalties from those artists thus recouping your costs and making insane profits And you know, you ACTUALLY invest in your core product - which is MUSIC. Spotify, lemme know when you need a new CEO

[@jayrana5069]

How are these graph designs so good!

[@paran0ia7]

It could very easily backfire and sink the company entirely, but I really hope that Spotify's last-gasp move is to leverage their ubiquity in the space to try and force the Big Three to back down and accept more reasonable terms. An insanely risky maneuver to be sure, but the average user is NEVER going to subscribe to more than one music service, even if it means giving up legal access to 60% of the songs they like, and everyone involved is acutely aware of that. I say call their bluff; dare them to either take on the burden of distributing their own music again, or play ball and be content with "just" their earned payouts. The big labels are very much in control of Spotify's relevance, but the inverse is I think also more true than they'd like to admit.

[@polyspace]

this would be wonderful but it would take a collaborative effort from apple, youtube and amazon music to even stand a chance. youtube i could see working with them because they clearly want to increase profits (all the anti adblock stuff that's happening) but amazon and especially apple just make so much money from their vertical integration that they'd rather stay on the labels' good side than try to squeeze more profit from what is essentially an accessory for their main product: the ecosystem. this is all just a guess tho.

[@yoshimurahirihito]

You analysed the failures of their attempts at horizontal integration, but only mention a couple vertical ones. These would be slower to develop but likely more profitable, more depth there would have been appreciated.

[@daltakid]

The chart effects are amazing and one of a kind but a bit distracting in this one imo

[@SeaStarsLights]

my biggest issue is that they create vertical videos but never truly used them? imagine the impact if they had had vertical video charts etc back in 2017/2018 when they were huge and THE moment. they also don't utilize that people can discover new artists from them, and not having more live events fans could actually go to. and i could go onnnn

[@user-wj7sm9bm6p]

The biggest factor for me is what you get for the money. It is a dollar more than Apple Music and Apple offers lossless audio. That alone doesn't make Spotify worth it. If they add Hi-Res, it may sway me back.

[@bokangsepinare7428]

Listening to hi res audio on Bluetooth headphones is one of the worst placebos

[@user-wj7sm9bm6p]

@@bokangsepinare7428 I agree

[@JesseCorbett]

re: podcasts, it didn't help that their podcast feature is half baked, buggy, and missing important features. I had to move music apps because for months after the integration of Anchor, the app INSISTED on the home screen that I should listen to a podcast that only had 3 episodes 4 years ago and whose album art was uncomfortable NSFW material and absolutely no way of saying I wasn't interested. I'm still pissed about that.

[@B0A2]

I actually really like the audiobook stuff I did run out of hours this month in the middle of a book which was super annoying. But all in all it’s a great feature

[@pixeltaco9782]

Spotify existing for as long as it has is insane. they need to think beyond just audio because these experiments they do are getting less and less worth it. why they have not done music videos makes no sense as it seems like a free win for them. one other idea I had is that they could compete on some content. many artists do live shows and usually people from the crowd will record parts and bits of it, but why not spotify record the event, and have the recording of it exclusive to their platform. maybe charge and additional 2 or 3 dollars to access it or include it in hifi whenever that comes out as a 15 dollar a month deal. that is 4 extra dollars per month for those users who want that.

[@thiagomoreno8761]

I love Spotify and their constant innovation. Im not at all annoyed by introduction of new features and mediums, if anything i’m always looking forward to it. Spotify introduced me to podcasts and now I listen to a couple of episodes every day. Audiobooks are great and having all 3 mediums in a single app is super convenient for me. I would be willing to pay a monthly fee to have access to one book per month, like I pay in audible but in Spotify.

[@abirmuhtasim3697]

KZbin showed me 4 ads in this one video

[@DrkCarbalt]

To be fair, even if Spotify fails record labels will probably bail them out or straight up buy them since the alternative is worse for the music industry

[@user-y4h9rq]

Literally have to pay for everything now cannot even choose songs only limited song can be chosen on spotify. Worst thing

[@raghavkrishnan5018]

Spotify's "Grand Strategy" will fail due to its inability to sustain profitability in the face of rising content acquisition costs and intense competition from other streaming services that offer similar features and exclusive content - there saved you 20 minutes

[@abhi36292]

thanks man

[@freakout3516]

I love you

[@salakast]

There's a lot of important backstory here, I think it's worth it to watch the whole video. There's not much filler here.

[@InDeepPudding]

BUT THE IMPRINT SPONSOR!! YOU NEED THIS VALUABLE INFORMATION!!!!

[@DoesNotInhale]

Thank you

[@SomeAtoms]

Since Spotify control recommendations they can recommend more "label less" music and gradually decreasing control of labels. AI music might be a thing in a couple of years at least for some genres which would also be a unique opportunity for Spotify.

[@LakeNatomaInvite]

At 5:40. Spotify absolutely pays per stream. The pool of money from which they pay is based on a percentage of total revenue and is adjusted for factors including which plan (premium, free, family, etc.), the country the song was streamed in, and statutory publishing royalties which also vary by country. But the amount of money that each song - each artist and therefore each record label earns is definitely based on streams. Also, please explain how "it would allow one determined user to bankrupt the company". That does not make sense.

[@pavuk357]

Before this video I had no idea Spotify had audiobooks. Apparently it just isn't available in my country, though not surprising. Spotify delayed launching podcasts here for years too. And, as unintuitive it is, in my country there are many small paper publishers who doesn't even try to make ebook versions, not just audiobooks. I personally have some books that were printed in 4 digits range. Edit. I digged slightly deepr and even though audiobooks aren't available in my region, some people and organisations (even governmental lol) use podcasts as a platform for small audiobooks, or as some kind of introduction to them.

[@VITORB82]

Some in FAANG will eventually buy it

[@matteor6]

Is it just me or did the car at 12:54 just do a crazy move?