Spicetify
The App Store, Spotify, and Europe’s thriving digital music market
The Spotify Model for Scaling Agile | Atlassian
AI summary: > The Spotify Model is a forward-thinking approach to scaling agile that stands out by fostering a deep sense of autonomy and eschewing the prescriptive nature of traditional frameworks. It centers on a people-first philosophy where teams, referred to as Squads, have the freedom to select their own working methods and tools, thereby promoting a more innovative and engaged working environment. Each Squad operates within a larger ecosystem of Tribes, Chapters, and Guilds, providing alignment and knowledge exchange without stifling creativity. This model underscores the importance of organizational culture over rigid practices, allowing it to adapt fluidly to the unique needs and dynamics of each team and project.
The Sound of Streaming Music – Pixel Envy
Lessons from scaling Spotify: The science of product, taking risky bets, and how AI is already impacting the future of music | Gustav Söderström (Co-President, CPO, and CTO at Spotify)
Panic Among the Streamers
Netflix could buy 10 top quality screenplays per year with the cash they’ll spend on that one job. They must have big plans for AI.There are also a half dozen AI job openings at Disney. And the tech-based streamers (Apple, Amazon) already have made big investments in AI. Sony launched an AI business unit in April 2020—in order to “enhance human imagination and creativity, particularly in the realm of entertainment.”
When Spotify launched on the stock exchange in 2018, it was losing around $30 million per month. Now it’s much larger, and is losing money at the pace of more than $100 million per month.
But the real problem at Spotify isn’t just convincing people to pay more. It runs much deeper. Spotify finds itself in the awkward position of asking people to pay more for a lousy interface that degrades the entire user experience.
Boredom is built into the platform, because they lose money if you get too excited about music—you’re like the person at the all-you-can-eat buffet who goes back for a third helping. They make the most money from indifferent, lukewarm fans, and they created their interface with them in mind. In other words, Spotify’s highest aspiration is to be the Applebee’s of music.
They need to prepare for a possible royalty war against record labels and musicians—yes, that could actually happen—and they do that by creating a zombie world of brain dead listeners who don’t even know what artist they’re hearing. I know that sounds extreme, but spend some time on the platform and draw your own conclusions.
Spotify
Spotify dominates the music streaming industry with over 500 million monthly active users and 210 million paid subscribers, and is expanding into new areas like podcasts and audiobooks. The company aims to generate $100 billion in annual revenue by 2030 through expanding margins, increasing prices, and growing its userbase to 1 billion monthly active users. According to the author's analysis, Spotify represents a significant investment opportunity with a potential stock price increase of around 7 times by 2030.
Finding your T-Shape as a Generalist Designer
Think about what design skills are detached from materiality, and applicable to any domain. Collect methods and experience that helps you tackle uncertainty and make you more comfortable working in foggy terrain.
Depending on the design maturity of a company, a generalist might have a harder time explaining or showcasing their skills to the teams they work with, so be ready to lean in and initiate things without being asked to. People might not know what to come to you for at first.
what I’d generally expect from someone in that role is the ability to effortlessly switch perspective between an ecosystem and vision level, by way of user flows, down to detailed design, and to understand how each decision affects the next level down.