8 votes

Spotify reports more paid users, continued losses

4 comments

  1. [4]
    Deimos
    Link
    This is their first quarterly report since going public - almost a $50M loss in the first quarter, stock is down about 8% in after-hours trading right now. Spotify's still growing, but I'm...

    This is their first quarterly report since going public - almost a $50M loss in the first quarter, stock is down about 8% in after-hours trading right now.

    Spotify's still growing, but I'm honestly not really sure how people think they're ever going to turn it into a profitable business. Even if they do start making money someday, I imagine that will just mean that the record labels try to increase their fees since they're the source of the content.

    5 votes
    1. [3]
      Amarok
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Spotify recently got hit with a court ruling which means they'll have to start paying out nearly double their current rate to artists for the track plays in the next year or so. Considering...

      Spotify recently got hit with a court ruling which means they'll have to start paying out nearly double their current rate to artists for the track plays in the next year or so. Considering they've never been profitable that won't be good for their bottom line. The only thing they have going for them is promising adoption rates. There are plenty more lawsuits in the works as well. The recording industry is an uphill battle all the way.

      As far as I'm aware, the only streaming service with sustainable profitability is Bandcamp. Completely different business model to other streaming services, and they keep their staff small and efficient, expenses low.

      We also have the government poised to get involved with the Music Modernization Act.

      5 votes
      1. [2]
        MrCompletely
        Link Parent
        Thanks for mentioning Bandcamp. They are also the only streaming service I know of with a positive reputation among artists (just anecdotally from my fairly large number of musician friends and...

        Thanks for mentioning Bandcamp. They are also the only streaming service I know of with a positive reputation among artists (just anecdotally from my fairly large number of musician friends and acquaintances). Their business model pays musicians/labels fairly and gives those artists a lot of control over their material - what you can stream for free, etc. Plus for audiophiles it offers lossless DRM-free downloads. So they're doing everything right (in my opinion) and are profitable. A pretty interesting comparison.

        Their catalog has been heavy on new/current lesser known artists in non-mainstream genres, though recently more legacy back catalog stuff has been made available there. I find a lot of wonderful new music via their discovery features, both automated and curated. It's really an impressive service.

        6 votes
        1. cfabbro
          (edited )
          Link Parent
          Yeah Bandcamp is my main source of music purchases these days. It's a great site overall and incredibly ethical. They take the smallest cut from artists in the digital download service industry....

          Yeah Bandcamp is my main source of music purchases these days. It's a great site overall and incredibly ethical. They take the smallest cut from artists in the digital download service industry. Bandcamp takes 15% of digital sales, which drops down to 10% when sales reach ≥$5000/12mo where 30% is industry standard with no exceptions (unless you have a major Label to negotiate for you).

          I rarely use it for music discovery since there are way better places for that but it's always the first place I check when want to buy a song/album.

          5 votes