🔵 Spotify's layoffs: a sign of the times

Profit comes by increasing revenue... or cutting overhead

Hi there -

Keeping this one short today as I’m still travelling. Much is being made of Spotify’s decision to lay off somewhere around 1,500 jobs, but I’ll be honest: to me it only seems in line with all other tech companies of late. As profits get harder to find, another way to increase that margin is simply to cut overhead.

Two points have caught my eye when reading around the topic though. The first is Music Ally’s confirmation that the layoffs will incur costs of around €130-145M. Now granted, ‘costs’ will mean more than just what is paid out to staff, but even so, it is quite the insight as to salaries at the company.

The second point was what this mean for worker morale. Put simply: if the company underperforms, people get laid off. If the company does well (as Spotify has this year)… people also get laid off. The impact this might have on the workforce should not be underestimated, and I’d think Spotify will have to do a fair bit to convince remaining staff of its continued support for them.

On the whole though, I fear this is really just another sign of the times. Big Tech has become quite profligate in recent years, with many - like Spotify - doubling in employee size. With margins slimming and investors increasingly keen to see better returns, this should not come as a massive surprise.

Perhaps what will be interesting is where the cuts are being made, and what that might indicate for Spotify’s own faith in different aspects of its service. I would not be shocked if the podcasting side of its business was heavily hit, but let’s see.

Have a great evening,

D.

🎶 listening to “It’s Only Love” by ZZ Top. My friend Joe told me I had to check this purely for the break that opens the track, and he’s right: it’s an absolute gem. The whole song is a keeper though, and the album is well worth a look too. Not the ZZ Top you might know, put it that way.

📺 watching “GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE - Official Teaser Trailer”. I was sceptical enough of the last movie, only to be proven wrong, and this one looks equally good.

🤖 playing with Pika Labs text-to-video generator. I like how this is being positioned, i.e not as something with Hollywood intentions but instead almost like a turbo-charged Giphy of sorts. Very clever though - hunt down the Discord bot if you can.

Stories from the Music Industry:

Spotify cuts more than 1,500 jobs amid rising costs

Daniel Ek, Spotify’s billionaire founder and chief executive, said it had decided to cut 17% of its workforce, the third and steepest round of redundancies of 2023, as the company faces pressure from an activist investor.

👆🏻Hot take: I only see this as being in line with every other tech company. It’s not complex: to increase margins you either ratchet up revenue… or you cut your overheads.

TikTok brings its Ticketmaster partnership to more major markets

After an initial US launch in August last year, TikTok and Ticketmaster are expanding a partnership that lets TikTok users purchase event tickets without leaving the platform to 20 additional countries. On Monday, TikTok announced that the feature will now work in the UK, Ireland, Australia, Germany, France, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, and several other major markets

👆🏻Hot take: I look forward to reading some stats on how much traffic this has driven back to Ticketmaster. All signs point to TikTok very much focusing on its means to create revenue through the platform.

Endel turns Sia's Christmas EP into two AI-soundscape albums

Endel has put the festive tracks through its AI to create two ‘soundcapes’ that are being released on streaming services as well as within its own app. ‘Gimme Christmas (Lofi Soundscape)’ comes out today (4 December) with ‘Gimme Christmas (Sleep Soundscape)’ following on 11 December.

👆🏻Hot take: this is reminding me of when (for a brief period) everyone was doing sleep versions of things for the Calm platform.

Voice-Swap adds house legends to its licensed voice-clones service

“We were especially interested in giving a new voice to those who might have experienced poor label deals in their careers,” he said in a statement. “Very serendipitously, we met the new owners of Trax Records who told us they were keen to undo the wrongs of the past.” All three artists’ AIs are available now on Voice-Swap, which operates a subscription model for musicians wanting to use its collection.

👆🏻Hot take: a very smart move here. The fact that I’m keen to try this out probably says enough.

KISS introduces ABBA Voyage-style virtual avatar band at final show

Demon, now 8 feet tall, sprouted wings. Starchild’s fingertips crackled with pink lightning. And the group, having shuffled off their AARP-eligible mortal coils, entertained those who had, like them, put their faith in loud guitars. KISS had been transfigured into that higher form: licensed intellectual property.

👆🏻Hot take: if ever a band was built for a larger-than-life eternal presence in virtual form, it’s KISS. And I can’t lie: I’m 100% here for it, LOL

Stories from the Broader World of Tech:

TikTok owner ByteDance joins generative AI frenzy with service for chatbot development, memo says

ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, is working on an open platform that will allow users to create their own chatbots, as the company races to catch up in generative artificial intelligence (AI) amid fierce competition that kicked off with last year’s launch of ChatGPT. The “bot development platform” will be launched as a public beta by the end of the month, according to an internal memo seen by the Post.

👆🏻Hot take: that any Big Tech firm is leaping headlong into AI should not come as a shock, but Bytedance has historically taken a different approach to things, meaning this move is one to keep an eye on.

US federal judge blocks Montana’s TikTok ban, deems it unconstitutional

In his decision, the federal judge found fault with the legislation, asserting that it “oversteps state power and infringes on the Constitutional rights of users and businesses.”

👆🏻Hot take: not a massive shock here. This is where populist politics meets longstanding law.

Creating a single AI-generated image needs as much power as charging your smartphone

"The least efficient image generation model uses as much energy as 950 smartphone charges (11.49kWh), or nearly one charge per image generation," the authors wrote, noting the "large variation between image generation models, depending on the size of image that they generate."

👆🏻Hot take: a fine reminder of the less-covered aspect of AI, namely its gargantuan power use.

Need something else to read? Here you go:

Why TikTok is dangerously good at making you spend money

Since introducing TikTok Shop, an in-app shopping feature, the social platform has sold about $7 million worth of products a day in the U.S., with a goal of reaching $10 million a day by the end of the year.

👆🏻Hot take: a fine look at how TikTok is working hard to ratchet up its direct sales.

Do Video Doorbells Really Help to Deter Crime?

More people are using cameras and sharing footage with the police, but there’s little data showing their effectiveness.

👆🏻Hot take: accepted wisdom is that video doorbells do reduce crime. Proving that appears more tricky, however. Arguable proof as to how well the likes of Amazon hoodwinked us into believing a largely unfounded ‘truth’ in this space.

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