4 ms·

Apple is clearly an incredibly successful company but to take an example why would an energetic young developer ever choose to work on Apple Music over Spotify?

Apple is clearly an incredibly successful company but to take an example why would an energetic young developer ever choose to work on Apple Music over Spotify? I say this as an Apple Music subscriber but one is a company that is existentially all in and the other that sees a revenue stream. This is evident in the quality of the respective products. If you’re not in the AR/car divisions then what is the point.

TingPing 5y ago
I get your idea, but Spotify isn't exactly an innovative company either. They made a product that was successful and they simply maintain it while also exploring other revenue streams (podcasts, Car Thing).
- lozenge 5y ago
  Spotify: not shuffling your playlists for 10 years.
- astrange 5y ago
  Music streaming is a terrible business to be existentially all in to because the record labels own all the actual music and have all the power over you. But you can’t do anything about it either. So there’s not much reason to invest in it.
Beaver117 5y ago
Because they are just engineers, not the owners of the company.
- SirHound 5y ago
  That’s almost precisely my point. If I wanted to atrophy on a subpar product I’d choose Apple Music too. But I admit I say this not knowing the general compensation of either product.
oarsinsync 5y ago
> why would an energetic young developer ever choose to work on Apple Music over Spotify? I say this as an Apple Music subscriber but one is a company that is existentially all in and the other that sees a revenue stream I imagine some people had similar thoughts when considering Netscape Navigator vs Internet Explorer. > If you’re not in the AR/car divisions then what is the point. Some people are more interested in a stable paycheck and will take a bullshit job to enable it.
qbasic_forever 5y ago
Being number one can be downright boring. Spotify is incentivized to not rock the boat and keep the profits coming. It's very, very difficult to affect big and powerful change in that environment.
- jsnell 5y ago
  Spotify isn't in a position to just let the profits keep coming. In fact, they've never posted a profitable year yet.
- ksec 5y ago
  >Being number one can be downright boring Not in the context of Streaming. Spotify's lead ( I want to say dominance but that wouldn't be true ) is partly because Apple Music, Youtube Music and Amazon Music isn't exactly great. Just look at how many free trials Apple Music is giving out everywhere trying to push for more adoption. I dont think Spotify is perfect ( far from it ), but they have fought hard to win their place. So it is anything but boring.
lordnacho 5y ago
Depends on what you think of the business. If Spotify goes down you're looking for a new job and all your stock blows up. If Apple closes music, you'll have a reasonable chance of getting an internal transfer, and the stock will still be there. Risk/reward assessment as usual.
jedberg 5y ago
Because the installed based is ridiculously huge, and you want discounts on Apple stuff? Also, it's a good way to get your foot in the door and maybe switch to something more unique to Apple later on.

TingPing 5y ago

I get your idea, but Spotify isn't exactly an innovative company either. They made a product that was successful and they simply maintain it while also exploring other revenue streams (podcasts, Car Thing).

lozenge 5y ago
Spotify: not shuffling your playlists for 10 years.
astrange 5y ago
Music streaming is a terrible business to be existentially all in to because the record labels own all the actual music and have all the power over you. But you can’t do anything about it either. So there’s not much reason to invest in it.

Beaver117 5y ago

Because they are just engineers, not the owners of the company.

SirHound 5y ago
That’s almost precisely my point. If I wanted to atrophy on a subpar product I’d choose Apple Music too. But I admit I say this not knowing the general compensation of either product.

oarsinsync 5y ago

> why would an energetic young developer ever choose to work on Apple Music over Spotify? I say this as an Apple Music subscriber but one is a company that is existentially all in and the other that sees a revenue stream I imagine some people had similar thoughts when considering Netscape Navigator vs Internet Explorer. > If you’re not in the AR/car divisions then what is the point. Some people are more interested in a stable paycheck and will take a bullshit job to enable it.

qbasic_forever 5y ago

Being number one can be downright boring. Spotify is incentivized to not rock the boat and keep the profits coming. It's very, very difficult to affect big and powerful change in that environment.

jsnell 5y ago
Spotify isn't in a position to just let the profits keep coming. In fact, they've never posted a profitable year yet.
ksec 5y ago
>Being number one can be downright boring Not in the context of Streaming. Spotify's lead ( I want to say dominance but that wouldn't be true ) is partly because Apple Music, Youtube Music and Amazon Music isn't exactly great. Just look at how many free trials Apple Music is giving out everywhere trying to push for more adoption. I dont think Spotify is perfect ( far from it ), but they have fought hard to win their place. So it is anything but boring.

lordnacho 5y ago

Depends on what you think of the business. If Spotify goes down you're looking for a new job and all your stock blows up. If Apple closes music, you'll have a reasonable chance of getting an internal transfer, and the stock will still be there. Risk/reward assessment as usual.

jedberg 5y ago

Because the installed based is ridiculously huge, and you want discounts on Apple stuff? Also, it's a good way to get your foot in the door and maybe switch to something more unique to Apple later on.