Farhad’s Week in Tech: Spotify’s Tough Road, and Our Pile of Reader Feedback
- 6 years ago
Farhad’s Week in Tech: Spotify’s Tough Road, and Our Pile of Reader Feedback
And it’s always going to have huge content costs; Spotify has to pay for music every time it’s
streamed, whereas video streaming companies like Netflix usually pay for content just once.
Snap, the maker of Snapchat, has been dogged by sluggish user growth since it
hit the market last summer; its stock price is still below its $17 I. P.O.
It isn’t doing an initial public offering but instead a novel model called a direct stock listing —
but let’s forget about the mechanics for now and consider its prospects.
Because music streaming is all the company does, it has an incentive to keep improving its service; Spotify,
I’ve noticed, adds excellent features faster than most of its bigger competitors add basic ones.
It’s one of few examples of a thriving consumer company that sits outside the clutches of large American tech firms.
Last month, I asked readers to send in ideas for tech stories they’d like to see covered in The Times.
The company is beset by wealthy competitors, is losing tons of money, and its business model does not offer an obvious path to huge profits.
The company has 159 million active users, 71 million of whom pay for a subscription to its ad-free service.
After months of windup, the music-streaming company filed documents this week to sell shares on the New York Stock Exchange.
And it’s always going to have huge content costs; Spotify has to pay for music every time it’s
streamed, whereas video streaming companies like Netflix usually pay for content just once.
Snap, the maker of Snapchat, has been dogged by sluggish user growth since it
hit the market last summer; its stock price is still below its $17 I. P.O.
It isn’t doing an initial public offering but instead a novel model called a direct stock listing —
but let’s forget about the mechanics for now and consider its prospects.
Because music streaming is all the company does, it has an incentive to keep improving its service; Spotify,
I’ve noticed, adds excellent features faster than most of its bigger competitors add basic ones.
It’s one of few examples of a thriving consumer company that sits outside the clutches of large American tech firms.
Last month, I asked readers to send in ideas for tech stories they’d like to see covered in The Times.
The company is beset by wealthy competitors, is losing tons of money, and its business model does not offer an obvious path to huge profits.
The company has 159 million active users, 71 million of whom pay for a subscription to its ad-free service.
After months of windup, the music-streaming company filed documents this week to sell shares on the New York Stock Exchange.