What Do The Streaming Layoffs Mean? [PODCAST]
Last week TechCrunch reported that a huge percentage of Rdio staff were laid off. Months earlier, Slacker and Rhapsody also laid off staff. This trend begs several larger questions: Are these layoffs just the start of a correction and we will being seeing more soon? Are we on the verge of a major consolidation in the online music sector? Are the growth strategies and business models at the streaming companies sustainable? The Deep Dive examines these difficult questions alongside startup founder and industry pundit J Herskowitz.
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J is spot on about cars and whoever the gal is, she has no idea what she is talking about, other than Spotify spends insane amounts of money on staff and travel and opulent offices.
Commenting on the early discussion about Spotify being so much larger and having such a stronger war chest.
It probably should not be discounted that Spotify gained a ton of momentum in markets that had far fewer options. Rdio and Rhapsody have been trying to compete in the US against nearly all major incumbents and a million other sources of entertainment. Spotify grew in countries that have fewer options and didn’t come here until they had critical mass and a lot of buzz. Then, you’ll notice that they missed all kinds of targets and have not had anywhere near the 50M users they swore they would in the first year. Competing in the US is much harder. Spotify seems dominant, but much less so if you look at only their position in America.
Something we’ve been talking about for sometime.
Are these streaming services financially viable and if not why are we allowing them to destroy the careers of musicians?
Sheep
Why do they “destroy the careers of musicians”? Aint musicians people who can choose NOT to make it available on streamingservices by themself?