Spotify

Where great startups are: the Nordics

Skype, Spotify, Supercell – they all have one thing in common: they were born, raised and thrived in the Nordics before becoming a global phenomena and changing their industries. And these are not the only examples of great startups emerging from that region. Top Tier Capital Partners, a San Francisco-based fund which invests in venture capital funds, recently conducted a study looking at the “unrealized and realized exits” in the Top Tier dataset according to geography in order “to determine if any of the regions was outperforming.” What the study found: 

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Data Driven (Music) Discovery

Earlier this month, in my latest piece for The New Yorker, I wrote about Apple’s growing challenges with services were centered on its inability to grok the reality that today, data and algorithms are key part of the user experience. As an example, I cited the growing popularity and effectiveness of Spotify’s Discover Weekly feature.

Today, Spotify shared some numbers that showcase how tiny bits of data and evolving alogrithms can lead to rapid adoption, deep engagement and a satisfying user experience. Discover Weekly, is forbearer of what’s to come. Data will help define the experience in a deeper, more personal way, especially as we start to experience technology through non-obvious user interfaces – from new generation of chatbots to voice-based interactions.

Spotify on its blog notes:

  • Discover Weekly has 40 million listeners and nearly five billion tracks have been streamed since it was launched in July 2015.
  • More than half of all

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Not a Tidal wave

Streaming Subs

The smartest (business) man in hip hop, Jay Z, says Schibsted ASA, a Norwegian media group that sold him Tidal Music service (a year ago for $56 million) had inflated subscriber numbers and were disingenous when they sold him the company. So he is suing them and wants to be compensated for the damages caused by their lies.

Regardless of who you believe, the question that we should be asking: What kind of due diligence was done before Jay Z bought Tidal? Or was he (and his business group) so blinded by the opportunity to make quick cash that he overlooked the details?

To me, Tidal was nothing but a bought-to-flip company, which had little or no chance against Spotify and Apple. There wasn’t much to the service, and Kanye West isn’t enough for me to sign up for the service. It didn’t have the software chops. It didn’t know how to use data to drive usage. Tidal was a AAA baseball team

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Jay-Z Speaks about Tidal

Jay-Z, new owner of Tidal, a competitor to Spotify discussed his new venture with a group of students at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. It is worth reading as it opens a window into the mind of one of the most successful entrepreneurs of post-Internet era. I am still not convinced that I need to buy music from them, despite all their exclusive deals. Read This!

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What I am reading today

I have been remiss in sharing my recommendation for a couple of weeks, mostly because I have been preoccupied with work and other personal matters. I have been reading less on the screen and more on paper, hence the delays. Regardless, I believe these are some of the better stories out there and if you have time, please check them out.

  • Democracy in the digital era: Irish politician and activist has some good rumination about how connectivity is redefining the concept of democracy. Birgitta Jónsdóttir just went on my bucket list of people to meet in 2015.
  • Deer are invading New York City: What that has to do with tech and why it is on The Verge is besides the point. This is a great feature story, the first one which i read start to finish. More people should be looking at our immediate world differently. Well done Brendan O’Connor.
  • What

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Rob Garza

In 1996 Rob Garza and Eric Hilton formed music group Thievery Corporation. In 1997 they captured music fans’ imagination with the release of their debut album, Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi. They have since released eight studio albums, the latest called Saudade, which hit the stores on April 1, 2014. In addition, Garza and Hilton have released 18 compilation albums and started a label, Eighteen Street Lounge Music (ESL). Originally from Washington, D.C., Garza now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.


Introduction


Rob Garza is one half of Thievery Corporation, a music group that blends sounds and musical influences from around the planet. Their music is the soundtrack of my immigrant story, each album of theirs having a cultural significance and also marking my transition from India to New York and eventually becoming an American citizen.

Their music is timeless. If you don’t believe me, check out their debut

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On Streaming: Apple, Beats & Spotify

In response to the rumors that Apple was buying Beats Audio for $3.2 billion, I sent out these three tweets.

  • Someone wrote that Apple will get design help from Beats Audio. LOL. Beats design is done by an outside agency, started by ex-Apple peeps. (#) [Outside agency is Robert Brunner’s Ammunition Group and Brunner hired Jony Ive.]
  • Google spends $3.2 billion to buy the future & data. Apple buys bad headphones & a junk-service from music promoters. Worse use of corp $$$s. (#)
  • Buying BeatsAudio (aka a Baboon’sAss) is a good sign that Apple is pretty much out of ideas & unable to come up w/an anti-Spotify strategy. (#)

In response to these tweets, many fine folks responded and made different arguments. Some said  that it was about buying a cooler (younger) brand, buying high margin hardware revenue and/or buying into a new category. (Some say, the deal is cheap — apparently Beats Audio was on track to do over a billion dollars in revenues in 2013.)

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What I am reading today

Musings
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Daniel Ek, Spotify CEO on Beats Music

It’s a competitor, for sure, but my way of looking at it is, if it gets people to understand the value of streaming, it is ultimately good. Our way of doing this is not just slapping some celebrity brand on it and hoping it will be good. We are a social service; we are a product company. People have tried to put a brand on it and thought that’s enough, and they have failed: Microsoft, Nokia — many big companies. (full interview on Billboard)

It is hard for me to even consider a switch to Beats Music, considering how much effort and time I have put in creating all the playlists, following artists and creating a social graph on Spotify. In many ways, that is the thing I hate about Spotify too — this ambient data lock-in, which prevents me to contemplate others.

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