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Comment by radley | Hacker News Reader

Spotify benefitted from starting in the EU.

I don't agree with the exaggeration in the parent comment, but your one counter-example pivoted their workforce expansion to the US after openly criticizing Sweden's business environment. They took issue with the shortage of employee housing due to over-regulated planning restrictions, unfavorable taxation of stock options, and a lack of programming and development education. Those issues (less so education) are applicable throughout the majority of the EU.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/spotify-founders-blast-swedens-...

Most devs in Sweden would be very happy to get US wages so this feels pretty much like bullshit.

Also, Spotify could open offices in other places in Sweden (or Europe) if they want to be in places with lower CoL than Stockholm.

I can't see how the wages have anything to do with the points in the parent comment but you're never going to get US wages in Sweden as long as the unions are involved

What stops Spotify from paying USA wages in Stocholm or other cities in Europe that offer good quality of living and thus appealing to software developers? Software developer unions are going to say NO? Do such unions exist? Can they control software devs?

Sweden has collective agreements where workplace conditions including pay are decided between the unions and the employers rather than the government interfering in the process. Yes even software devs are covered under this.

Why would they want to move people around the world, deal with the unions who will force them to raise the floor of the local salaries etc when they can just hire the best talent in the US?

That complaint happened 10 years after they were founded and five years after they launched in the US. By that time, they were already a billion-dollar business.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/spotify-s-t...

I haven't heard that perspective before, can you elaborate?

By my understanding, they didn't have to pay for the exorbitant North American interactive music licenses during their first five year. The EU rates were much more reasonable (plus I think they got grants and govt support?), allowing them to test the market and grow before entering the US.

They also let other companies prove the market had worth in North America, even if those companies failed

Rdio, LastFM, Rhapsody, and Grooveshark all existed well before Spotify entered North America. Some of them actually predate Spotify

That's why there is low risk for them to compete with anyone who didn't get EU funds. Even if the tech is better.

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