Spotify may delay IPO to 2018 as it rethinks licensing deals

Then there's the myriad of obvious gaps in features that should be there.

1. You can 'Heart' a track in 'Daily Mix', but you can't un-'Heart' it.

1b. If you accidentally dislike an artist in daily mix, you can't undo that, so that artist won't play anymore.

2. You can like an artist for a certain Radio (and remove the like in the playlist 'liked by radio') but you can't remove an 'unlike'.

3. You can have either a public playlist controlled by you, or a collaborative playlist that's secret. Why not a public collaborative playlist for which I can select which users can edit it?

With most of the above issues there's one overarching thing: counter-intuitivity. You can often do an action (heart, like, etc.), and do so by tapping or clicking on something, but tapping or clicking on the same thing doesn't undo the action (probably because you can't undo the action).. and wouldn't you want to have your friends be able to see/follow your playlist that you built with that one Techno-listening buddy without granting them all editing rights?

I still like Spotify because you have the largest library and are available on the most platforms (Windows/Linux/macOS/Chromecast/Sonos/Digt.Amplifiers/PS4), but its a choice of 'sucks the least' rather than 'is the best'.

sounds like a ship that rats would start deserting, and I know what I'd do if I were in that situation (spend as much as possible on short term perks, and cashout at the earliest opportunity).

I would also like to hear how you know about these financial incentives for VPs, I guess as a newish employee I am not privy to this sort of info or am not in the right backchannels :(

They'd have to either acquire this or build it from scratch. That takes time.

Some good points have been made as pros and cons, but in my mind something different needs to be done.

Edit: See the http://pledgemusic.com acquisition of http://noisetrade.com and http://set.fm nearly a year ago; no idea how it's working out for them though!

For the reference, Bandcamp is growing quite well.

I do not think Spotify should be trying to actually produce their own content in the way Netflix does, but I certainly do think there is scope to disrupt the traditional "music label" by helping to promote these independent artists, both online and in terms of tours, merchandise, etc.

I already find a lot of this via Discover Weekly, so it doesn't seem like a huge jump. The key is recognising that the era of pop music is over, just as the days when 50% of the nation would tune in to the same TV programme are over (with the possible exception of certain sporting events). Music is heading away from supergroups on labels like Sony BMG and promoted on MTV, towards a larger number of micro-brands serving individual tastes more closely.

Edit: I should add that it's also important to recognise the social aspect of music: what people listen to in clubs etc. This is where being on a label (currently) matters over just being on Bandcamp.

Because, unlike Netflix, that would be a huge increase in the amount Spotify pays to license their product.

Spotify is sunk. I just wish they would go under faster so that we could get something that might actually have, you know, a business model.

The 'exclusive' content Apple Music does is very different to Netflix. It's just an exclusive publishing deal for a short period of time. They don't own the content. I don't think there is a deal possible that would convince an artist to sell their content to one company (e.g. Spotify). Consumers aren't going to change services to hear your music, what happens to your music when Spotify eventually dies or disappears as the medium changes again, and what about your die hard fans who want to give you lots of money by purchasing vinyl or other physical copies at shows?

"Investors, according to the Wall Street Journal, will be able to convert the debt into Spotify shares at a 20 percent discount if the company has a public offering in the next year, with that discount rising two and a half percent every six months Spotify doesn’t go public.

Until then, Spotify will also pay a five percent interest rate on the debt. That’s an amazing investment for those who were given the opportunity to make it — five percent on their money up front, and a huge discount on stock when Spotify goes public. Essentially, if Spotify doesn’t immediately go under, they stand to make a lot of money on their initial investment no matter what happens."

And considering that Amazon, Google, and Microsoft all have their own streaming services, I don't see anywhere for Spotify to go when they fail.

See Square IPo for reference, as well as Spotify's terms discussed in this article.