4 ms·

Spotify has never posted an annual net profit. If you want to blame somebody, I’d say you should blame the listeners who overwhelmingly listen to a small numbe

by 542458 6y ago

Spotify has never posted an annual net profit. If you want to blame somebody, I’d say you should blame the listeners who overwhelmingly listen to a small number of popular artists. Alternatively, blame the record labels who contribute less and less value while still skimming massive amounts of money. See: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110707/03264014993/riaa-accounting-how-to-sell-1-million-albums-still-owe-500000.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110707/03264014993/riaa-...

munificent 6y ago
> Spotify has never posted an annual net profit. Because a company choose to roll all of its revenue into growth does not mean that somehow that money doesn't exist and couldn't have instead gone into musicians' pockets. Spotify made $7.4 billion in 2019. Imagine a world where Spotify had only made, say $1 billion, and all of the world's streaming musicians had made $6.4 billion more, distributed among them. Call me crazy, but that latter world sounds more like the one I'd prefer to live in.
- Negitivefrags 6y ago
  What do you think they spent that 7.4 billion on exactly? They literally did give it to the artists, or at least, the record companies.
- 542458 6y ago
  I’m confused as to what your second paragraph is trying to say. Spotify made 6.7B In revenue last year - not profit. Of that about 5B is paid out to the world’s musicians and record labels (technically bandwidth is probably in that number too, but it’s likely not a huge factor). The remaining 1.7B is marketing, R&D, and admin. In other words, Spotify’s 1.7B cut is about 25%. For comparison, in 1995 if you bought a CD the record store would take a ~35% cut. https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/05/arts/pennies-that-add-up-to-16.98-why-cd-s-cost-so-much.html https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/05/arts/pennies-that-add-up-...

4 ms·

Spotify has never posted an annual net profit. If you want to blame somebody, I’d say you should blame the listeners who overwhelmingly listen to a small numbe

by 542458 6y ago

munificent 6y ago
> Spotify has never posted an annual net profit. Because a company choose to roll all of its revenue into growth does not mean that somehow that money doesn't exist and couldn't have instead gone into musicians' pockets. Spotify made $7.4 billion in 2019. Imagine a world where Spotify had only made, say $1 billion, and all of the world's streaming musicians had made $6.4 billion more, distributed among them. Call me crazy, but that latter world sounds more like the one I'd prefer to live in.
- Negitivefrags 6y ago
  What do you think they spent that 7.4 billion on exactly? They literally did give it to the artists, or at least, the record companies.
- 542458 6y ago
  I’m confused as to what your second paragraph is trying to say. Spotify made 6.7B In revenue last year - not profit. Of that about 5B is paid out to the world’s musicians and record labels (technically bandwidth is probably in that number too, but it’s likely not a huge factor). The remaining 1.7B is marketing, R&D, and admin. In other words, Spotify’s 1.7B cut is about 25%. For comparison, in 1995 if you bought a CD the record store would take a ~35% cut. https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/05/arts/pennies-that-add-up-to-16.98-why-cd-s-cost-so-much.html https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/05/arts/pennies-that-add-up-...