Bogdan Florin Ceobanu’s Post

Spotify is a $60B music streaming leader with 615 million monthly active users.  Founder and CEO, Daniel Ek shared why he doesn’t worry about competition from Google and Apple. He shares 2 of his secret tools that helped him succeed: 1. Focus "We had this discussion before, we're specialized, we don't do anything other than our own service. Apple and Google does this and about 10,000 other things. I think there's something huge in terms of that focus because it brings clarity. This is all I do every day I don't invest in other companies, I just focus on building this company, and you know we think by that focus in the thousands,  if not millions of hours, that we produce in just creating that experience we will win." 2. Speed "The way you win in this fast-moving world where honestly it's moving faster and faster by the day and there's so much innovation around the world, the only way you can win is by being super focused on solving one problem better than anyone else and by moving faster than everyone else in solving that problem. It's really simple if you think about it like that and I like to think that it doesn't matter how many smart Mensa people you have in your company, sooner or later you're gonna get defocused if you do 1,000 things and you can't do all thousand things super well." Do you use Spotify? If yes, why, if no, why not?

Spotify’s secret to always be on the top in 15 years (a case study) Nothing beats Spotify in music streaming, but The product faced double threat in 2008: 1. User base booming at an unexpected rate 2. Rapidly evolving music industry And they had two choices: → Either to be responsive or to die in the market. They chose the first. To be responsive, they used scrum-based agile methodology to build their product which delivers: — Development in short, sharp sprints — Each sprint focuses on dedicated features — Using user feedback as their guiding force for next sprint The result? Spotify didn’t just have the newest features, But always remained on the top by delivering what its users demanded. Fast forward to 2024: → The music industry has transformed a 1000’s of times → Spotify’s user base has grown to global fanbase → User demands have shifted a 100’s of times Through it all, Spotify remained the chart-topper. Why? Because Product with solid foundations never break when the market changes or scales. If you want to sustain, this is how your product must be ready to pivot and scale with times. That’s what we do at Jalan Technologies, We don’t just build, we engineer for endurance. If you’re ready to make a product that lasts. Let’s talk. Click “Book an appointment” on my profile.

Did you know that Spotify got its name by mistake? Here is an interesting story behind how this popular music streaming service provider got its name. Spotify was founded by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon as a way to deal with the problem of music piracy. Before the music streaming services became popular, many downloaded pirated music files. Daniel and Martin realized that music streaming has huge potential, which made them start Spotify in 2006. When it comes to the naming of their music-streaming start-up idea, it happened when they trying to think of a catchy name when they stayed at a flat in the suburbs of Stockholm. They both were sitting in different rooms, and exchanging different naming ideas for the brand, shouting them back and forth. After tossing around various names and even trying online ‘jargon-generators’, Martin shouted an idea for a name, and Daniel misheard what he said as "Spotify". As soon as he heard the name, or rather misheard it, Daniel googled the same and found no matches or hits for 'Spotify' on Google, they registered the same for their company immediately. The founders frequently feel awkward about sharing the true story of how they named the well-known music streaming app. Instead, they often mention the alternate explanation that Spotify is a combination of "Spot" and "Identify". Now, that name is intrinsically connected with music and the company is worth more than $8 Billion. Isn’t it amazing what can come from a simple mistake? If one day you get a chance to name your brand, would you still consider naming that comes from a mistake or by any chance? What are other brands or companies that you know the name came from by chance? Share your thoughts in the comments. Source: https://lnkd.in/gsuYRbYj #spotify #founder #marketing #digitalmarketing #music #musicstreaming

Spotify's Secret to #1 Spotify has become the top music streaming platform thanks to its blend of innovative features, strategic expansions, and a focus on personalizing the user experience. Here's how Spotify did it: 1. Personalized User Experience: Spotify introduced "Discover Weekly" in 2015, offering users a weekly playlist tailored to their music preferences. This feature shows Spotify's dedication to creating a personalized listening experience for every user. 2. Advanced AI and ML: The platform's "Radio" feature uses advanced AI to make stations that fit what users like. This tech led to a 35% jump in users finding new music, showing the power of AI in enhancing how people interact with music. 3. Freemium Services: Spotify offers both a free, ad-supported tier and a premium subscription. This approach has attracted over 180 million premium subscribers as of 2023 by offering options that cater to different user needs and preferences. 4. Consistent Engagement: By allowing users to share music and playlists on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, Spotify saw a 60% increase in playlist creation and sharing. This demonstrates how integrating with social media can enhance a streaming service's reach and engagement. Spotify bought companies like Gimlet Media and Anchor FM, making it big in podcasts. Now, it's not just for music—it's a top platform for podcasts too.

Three months ago, I started a case study on enhancing music customization in streaming apps. Hemanth D., who also runs The Product Navigator, joined me, and we began our work. Today, we're excited to introduce Spotify Syncro. Initially, we reached out to almost 50 employees and secured a 15-minute virtual pitch session. This idea has since expanded, and we are now ready with our latest and nearly final version. Spotify, with 574M users and $13.2B in revenue, struggles with profitability due to high royalty payments and fierce competition. Lowering royalties or raising prices isn’t feasible. Spotify’s expansion into podcasts and advertising is bold. Our idea—adding features like pitch and speed changers, Creative Mode, and Altered Mode—could boost engagement, justify premium prices, and attract new users. These enhancements might set Spotify apart and drive profitability. 🏢 Daniel Ek, Gustav Söderström, Paul Vogel, CFA, Francesco Stumpo Stumpo we’d love for you all to check out our pitch video, prototype, and pitch deck on this exciting project! 🙌🏽 Special shoutout to benjie wilhelm, MDes, all the mentors, advisors and users who have guided and supported us throughout this project! Check it out : https://lnkd.in/gnSEgVDd The Product Navigator: https://lnkd.in/gvPNuWsZ

I experimented with giving Spotify some streaming royalties for a few months. For those not familiar, Spotify offers a tool called 'Discovery Mode' which can give your music better visibility in their radio and autoplay features. The deal: Spotify takes a 30% commission from these qualifying additional streams. In some cases, your distributor may then also take a further cut (up to 20%). Seems steep right? My result has been an average uplift per track of +136.4% streams over three months, with other metrics (followers, saves and playlist adds) also seeing some modest gains - which is potentially significant across a larger catalogue. So who might benefit most from this in the publishing world? Production music publishers and their writers - I’ve not come across many production music publishers (especially independents) with a solid strategy for streaming. A lot of the music definitely has crossover appeal outside of sync, but the volume of releases is usually the obstacle here. If distributed at all, most are left idle in the hope they will benefit from the occasional boost from a high-profile sync placement. Their Sync/licensing teams - the social proof of increased streaming numbers carries some weight for pitching. This could also be a good way to passively invigorate older catalogue and find missed ‘gems’ based on automated audience testing. Plus more streaming data = more audience insights (if you pay attention to that kind of thing). When you factor in that libraries will collect all the royalty types generated by streaming activity (most at full rate), it seems to be a worthwhile and very scalable tool. I’ve simplified the opportunity a bit here, so if you’re interested in more detail, feel free to get in touch. #MusicLibrary #MusicPublishing #MusicLicensing #ProductionMusic #MusicPromotion

Spotify changed the music industry and is often dubbed the “King of Streaming.” With over 550 million active users, this is the compelling story of Spotify. Founded in 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon in Sweden, Spotify faced immense challenges in a landscape dominated by piracy and declining CD sales. Initially, they struggled to convince record labels to license their music. The turning point came in 2008 when Spotify launched its platform, offering users access to a vast library of songs with a freemium model. This allowed users to enjoy music legally, while also providing a subscription option for an ad-free experience. What set Spotify apart was its focus on user experience and data-driven recommendations, making music discovery seamless and personalized. Their algorithms analyze listening habits, curating playlists that resonate with individual tastes. Today, Spotify isn't just a music service; it's a cultural phenomenon that has reshaped how we consume music, from curated playlists to podcasts. The takeaway? Embracing innovation and user-centric design can redefine entire industries. How are you innovating in your field?

In 2015, Jay Z and his powerful musician friends launched a music streaming service. It was called: Tidal. What was the goal of Tidal? Simple, They wanted to create a streaming platform that would pay artists better. Their goal was to deal with the bad payment structures of giants like Spotify. But just 3 weeks after the launch, Tidal failed. The question is Why? The answer is simple: To launch a successful business, it is important that you understand what your customer wants and build a solid case for why they should choose you... Tidal didn’t do that, They did not focus on what their customer wanted. So TIdal says, we will pay artists better, right? How does paying the artists better help the life of the average music listener? It only makes the artist richer and does nothing for average music listeners. Tidal has no free, ad-supported tier, but does have a more expensive $20 tier for higher-quality sound. So why did Tidal flop? Tidal did not build their business with the customers in mind. So the customers ignored them and it failed woefully. If you want your business to succeed as a Coach, Expert, online business owner, or consultant. You must always answer the question... What is in it for my customer or client? Humans are selfish, if there is NOTHING in it for them, they will ignore you. If you don’t understand this, your marketing will fail woefully... Because you read this to the end, I have a gift for you: Learn how to clarify your brand message with this 12-minute video: https://lnkd.in/dfH7suKt

Great commentary on a really interesting phenomenon in the music industry 🔽 I think whatever anyone feels about this, it's a clear breach of the trust / informal handshake agreement musicians have with the DSPs. We obviously know we're in competition with other artists; that's always been a difficult part of the work. But there's no comparison between an indie artist desperately trying to be heard and a platform-owned ghost writer or producer making music to deliberately take up space on their editorial lists, satisfy an algorithmic need or feed into another business objective. There's a clear financial incentive to playlist one and not the other, regardless of quality. As Drew says, it's an on-the-margins business; Spotify will always say that it can't find more money to pay artists beyond what it pays labels and rights holders already. I think it's an insult to our intelligence as long as these shadow musicians exist and are generating streams in the BILLIONS (with a B). I would call for this to be one of the collective rallying points for us as musicians (alongside low payouts from streaming for songwriters and master rights ownership, the copyright rippoff / stream farming that occurs every day, and what is bound to be a flood-the-zone approach by AI-enabled opportunists) in a push towards streaming equity #streaming #musicbusiness

By their agreements with rights holders, DSPs aren't allowed to own music copyrights. Except in very limited & specific circumstances. One way they get around this is with fake artists. Most fake artists are not doing this with Spotify's knowledge, but some are (this is less of an issue at the other DSPs). It was always funny to me when I was doing A&R at Sony Music Entertainment and I'd see some new instrumental "artist" with millions of streams on their very few tracks - and the IP address of their contact would be a mile from Spotify's office in Sweden. The DSPs would *love* to follow the Netflix model - produce and own their own content - but that will not fly with the labels & publishers. So they turn to illicit means to garner some revenue on the margins. Streaming is a margins business, after all. #musicindustry #musicbusiness #streaming #fakeartists