Spotify

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Hannah Friedland

By Hannah D Friedland

[1] Spotify’s Logo

THE SPOTIFY STORY:

[6] The most updated visuals of the Spotify application on thee platforms

[2] The most updated visuals of the Spotify application on thee platforms. Users have an on-demand stream of music on their computer, mobile device, tablet, and home entertainment system.

Spotify is a music streaming service that puts users in control of 20 million licensed songs [3]. Spotify was launched in Sweden in 2008 and came to America in 2011.

Spotify is financially a private company that offers over 20,000 new songs each day from major and independent labels including EMI, Warner Music Group, Universal, & The Orchard [3]. Artists earn royalty when their music is played, and there are over 24 million active users currently in 55 markets [3].

There are two revenue streams, free, which is “powered by advertisers” and premium for $9.99 monthly with extra features including no ads, offline, and high-quality audio [3].

TEAM SPOTIFY:

[2] Spotify Founders- Daniel Ek & Martin Lorentzon

[4] Spotify Founders- Daniel Ek & Martin Lorentzon

[5] Chief Sales, Marketing, and International Growth Officer- Jeff Levick

[5] Chief Content Officer & Managing Director USA- Ken Parks

[6] Chief Content Officer & Managing Director USA- Ken Parks

[7] Head of Content- Steve Savoca

INSIDE SPOTIFY:

Social Media Merges with Music- Songs, playlists, and albums can be shared on the Spotify application through the "Send To" message option, or users can "post to feed" to their Facebook timeline, Twitter, and Tumblr within the Spotify application. ARROW

Social Media Merges with Music- Using the “send to”, or “post to feed” options users can message music to friends and post music to their Facebook timeline, Twitter, and Tumblr within the Spotify application. Source: Spotify

Spotify gives its users the option to connect with their social media Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr accounts. Users can create collaborative playlists, share music, view friends music and more which provides for ample music discovery and publicity for the company on social media platforms. There is also a private session users can activate.

Two other elements that Spotify includes are apps and Discover. While these apps add dimension to the Spotify journey, Discover is essentially a constantly updated news feed.

Discover- Spotify's "news feed" feature on the desktop application, artists are recommended, concerts nearby are posted, friends listening habits are shown all based on listening habits the user has shown. Source: Spotify

Discover- Spotify’s “news feed” feature on the desktop application. Updates with releases, playlists, artists recommendations, concerts nearby are posted, friends listening habits are shown all based on listening habits the user has shown. Source: Spotify

COMPETITORS:

Spotify is a strong contender, but it’s competing neck and neck with Rdio, Pandora, Rhapsody, Google Play Music, and Beats on price, catalogue, platforms, and features [8]. Beats Music entered the competitive on-demand music market in January [9], and is Spotify’s biggest challenger.

[10] Beats Music vs. Spotify- The two streaming services are extremely similar with the same catalogue size, the discovery element, and price.

Beats entry in the market put Spotify in “go-mode”.

SPOTIFY’S SITUATION:

Competitor streaming services are continually emerging. With more choices presented to consumers, Spotify has responded by shifting their focus to partnerships, acquisitions, customer satisfaction, and updated product development. The formula is to attract users to Spotify, engage with users, and retain them.

Partnerships

Last.fm

Last.fm is a music recommendation service. In January, Spotify and Last.fm teamed up to bring a beneficial on-demand playbar to Last.fm’s website. This makes it possible for Last.fm users to internally play the entire Spotify catalogue on Last.fm’s website [11].

The collaboration works in both companies favor. Last.fm users have a fuller experience with the power, “to play whatever you want by whoever you want directly on Last.fm” [12]. In addition, Spotify’s catalogue incorporation provides a huge presence and Last.fm users conveniently have motivation to signup for Spotify to take advantage of the essential music player.

The Last.Fm Spotify playbar at the bottom of Last.Fm’s website. Source: Lastfm.com

SoundHound

Spotify also joined forces with SoundHound for the “Add to spotify” feature on its iOS application in February. SoundHound is a popular music-recognition app, similar to Shazam. Banded together, SoundHound is now more interactive. After linking accounts, with the tap of a button users can automatically generate Spotify playlists of recognized songs without leaving SoundHound’s app [13].

Hitting the “Add to Spotify” button automatically turns songs discovered on SoundHound into a Spotify playlist. Source: SoundHound & Spotify

The mutually-beneficial relationship brings life to identified songs through Spotify playlists on SoundHoud, and the incentive to use the button will drive users to subscribe to Spotify while giving them presence on a music app [14].

Coachella

On top of that, Spotify was presented with an amazing opportunity to have presence on site at Coachella as the Official Digital Music Partner of the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in California in April. The Spotify Social tent was an on-site air-conditioned tent that offered relaxation pods, chargers, a “Mosaic Photo Booth” that uses your Spotify account to generate a picture out of your most played album art, and art from artist Apex [15].

[16] The Spotify Social tent, that capped at 150, gave people an air conditioning experience filled with music, more battery power, art, and a Mosaic Photobooth that puts your face on album covers based on your Spotify listening habits.

#WeWereThere was Spotify’s digital interactive strategy at Coachella to “connect, collect, share.” Implanted in every RFID wristband was the power to capture the experience by checking in and collecting custom Spotify curated playlists. The “My Coachella Story” digital snapshot let individuals create memories of their festival concert experiences with playlists gathered [16]. This collaboration not only transformed Coachella goers into premium users, but also created a special experience and built relationships by reliving the festival on Spotify.

[15] “My Coachella Story”- an example of a digital snapshot that shoes distance traveled, the path taken, playlists, artists seen etc. To participate users needed to simply connect their wrist band with their Spotify accounts, look for check ins at the festival, use the wristband to collect playlists and then after generate their digital card and share it with family and friends.

Sprint

Lastly, Beats launched with an AT&T package family plan deal. Rumors are circulating about Spotify planning to bundle with the #3 U.S. mobile carrier, Sprint [17] in April. This partnership will give Sprint customers a free trial. Customers will be able to pay for Spotify directly through their Sprint Accounts, which will help Spotify secure a greater market share and Sprint secure more data plans. Sprint and Spotify will announce the details on April 29th at a New York Event [18].

Acquisitions

In efforts to boost the “discovery” element, Spotify acquired The Echo Nest in March [19]. The Echo Nest is a music intelligence company that examines listening behavior and makes musical recommendations. Spotify paid $100 Million, with 90% Spotify equity [20]. The Echo Nest previously powered Rdio and Rhapsody, both of which ended their deals, deeming its technology invaluable to their operations right after Spotify acquired [21]. This potentially puts Spotify in the position to take The Echo Nest away from competitors.

Combing the two companies gives The Echo Nest a bigger audience and catalog, while Spotify, now with music-discovery data, will improve recommendation’s.

Customer Satisfaction

With intentions to obtain more paying users Spotify has updated its business model. In January the company announced free music shuffling on iOS with a catch, non-premium users ads play in between every few tracks [22]. In February, Spotify added the “repeat one” feature [23]. Repeat one grants users the option to repeat a single track over and over [24]. These highly requested changes illustrate that Spotify cares about users.

Working with a college students budget, Spotify slashed the premium $9.99 monthly rate to $4.99 in March [25]. They partnered with SheerID to validate eligibility. This price change is valuable because college students represent an important key demographic in streaming use [26]. This differentiates Spotify from other streaming services like Rdio and Beats that charge $10 monthly.

Unique Product Development

Competition among streaming services leads Spotify to completely redesign its user interface layout on all platforms. Spotify rolled out a sleek modernized look on April 2^nd. This major design update was the first since its launch in 2008, and to keep current it was a smart move [27].

Spotify’s New Look Video [28]

The new dramatic, dark color scheme highlights important buttons, includes circular images for people, and features square album shapes [29]. The browse tab is revised and categorized between top lists, releases, news, and moods. “Your Music”, a collection of users saved albums, songs, and artists is a new addition [30]. The Your Music addition mimics iTunes library and it is comparable to Rdio’s “collection” feature. It helps users save, organize, and browse through their favorite music. The new layout feels unified and balanced, and should attract new users [31].

WHATS NEXT FOR SPOTIFY:

Spotify is headed in the right direction, but with downloads declining, new rival services like YouTube, Apple, and Amazon that have huge user bases are joining the streaming market [32].

Being active puts Spotify in the forefront, which looks great for Investors. It is rumored that an IPO is in Spotify’s near future. Though the company has declined all comments, a job advertisement for an “External Reporting Specialist” has been posted on their website and LinkedIn [33]. Their future looks competitive but successful.

Sources:

1. Spotify’s Logo 2014, Spotifypress.com, RT: 4/04/2014

2. Spotify’s Application on Three Platforms, Spotifyblog.com, RT: 4/01/2014

3. Spotify Press Fast Facts, Press.Spotify.com, RT: 4/01/2014

4.The Founders of Spotify, Press.Spotify.com, RT: 4/01/2014

5.Spotify’s Chief Sales, Marketing, and International Growth Officer, Press.Spotify.com, RT: 4/01/2014

6. Chief Content Officer & Managing Director USA,Press.Spotify.com, RT: 4/01/2014

7. Head of Content, Press.Spotify.com, RT: 4/01/2014

8. “And The Winner Is… Best Music On-Demand Streaming Service”, Cultofmac.com, 2/18/2014, RT: 4/07/2014

9. “Beats Music Is Here”, Beats Music Blog 1/16/2014, RT: 4/08/2014

10. “Beats Music vs. Spotify: Can Dr. Dre outmix the king of streaming”, Digital Trends, 1/27/2014, RT: 4/07/2014

11. “Last.fm Bands up with Spotify to offer on-demand tracks”, CNET, 1/29/2014, RT: 4/04/2014

12. “Did Someone Say On Demand?”, Last.fm Blog, 1/29/2014, RT: 4/04/2014

13. “SoundHound Launched “Add to Spotify”, Business Wire, 2/21/2014, RT: 4/07/2014

14. “SoundHound Now Lets You Easily Add Your Discovered Music to Your Spotify Playlist”, appdevice.com, 2/24/2014, RT: 4/07/2014

15. “Coachella here we come” Spotify News, 4/7/2014 RT: 4/14/2014

16. “Spotify’s Coachella #WeWereThere Campaign: High Tech and Sweet, Sweet Air Conditioning”, Billboard, 4/11/2014, RT: 4/14/2014

17. “Sprint and Spotify Plan to Partner Up”, recode.net, 4/11/2014, RT: 4/14/2014

18. “Spotify, Sprint Plan Music Bundle To Be Unveiled This Month”, Billboard, 4/12/2014, RT: 4/14/2014

19.“Spotify Acquires the Echo Nest”, Billboard, 3/06/2014, RT: 4/02/2014

20. “Spotify Acquired Music Tech Company The Echo Nest in A $100M Deal” , TechCrunch, 3/07/2014, RT: 4/07/2014

21. “Rhapsody Kills its Echo Nest partnership following Spotify acquisition”, Venturebeat.com, 3/21/2014, RT: 4/09/2014

22. “Spotify’s free shuffle mode arrives on iPhone”, The Verge,1/08/2014, RT: 4/02/2014

23. “Repeat One”, Spotify News Blog, 2/07/2014, RT: 4/08/2014

24. “Spotify users can now repeat the same song over and over and over again”, Hypbot, 2/10/2014, : 4/02/2014

25. “Spotify Offers 50% Student Discount”, Hypbot, 3/25/2014, RT: 4/02/2014

26. “Spotify introduces 50% discount for college students”, Los Angles Times, 3/25/2014, RT: 4/07/2014

27. “The Good, The Bad, The Less Ugly: Taking Spotify’s New Redesign For a Test Drive”, Billboard, 4/03/2014, RT: 4/04/2014

28. Spotify Paints It Black with New Look, YouTube, 4/01/2014, RT: 4/06/2014

29. “Spotify’s biggest redesign ever brings long awaited Collection view”, The Verge, 4/02/2014, RT: 4/07/2014

30. “Spotify paints it black with new look”, Spotify News, 4/02/2014, RT: 4/08/2014

31. “Spotify beautifies”, CNET, 4/02/2014 RT: 4/08/2014

32. “Spotify faces challenge from Internet giants before IPO” New York Post, 3/30/2014, RT: 4/14/2014

33. “Spotify seeks to hire U.S. filings expert as bankers eye IPO” Reuters, 2/17/2014, RT: 4/14/2014

Weinstein Company

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Matthew Sarshik

By Matt Sarshik

The Weinstein Company Logo [1]

History

Created in 2005, The Weinstein Company is a multimedia production and distribution company founded by brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein. The brothers created the company following their departure from Miramax Films, a company they founded in 1979. The Weinstein Company encompasses genre-film studio Dimension Films. The Weinstein Company left the 2012 Academy Awards with 8 awards, the most in the studio’s history, including Best Picture for The Artist. [1]

Key Executives

Harvey Weinstein
Courtesy of Biography.com [2]

Harvey Weinstein is co-chairman of The Weinstein Company and founded Miramax Films in 1979 with his brother, Bob, where they released many critically acclaimed films, receiving 16 Best Picture nominations over 16 years. [3]

Bob Weinstein
Courtesy of the NY Daily News [4]

Bob Weinstein is co-chairman of the The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films, a company he established in 1993, which primarily produces science fiction, family, and horror films including the Scream and Scary Movie franchises. [5]

Financials

Through November of 2013, The Weinstein Company ranks eighth among studios with a 5.1% market share. The studio has released 13 films in 2013 and brought in a total gross of approximate $468 million. In 2012, The Weinstein company also placed eighth among the studios, however they only held a 2.4% market share. [6]

Recent News

At the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, The Weinstein Company picked up several features. The list was highlighted by “Can A Song Save Your Life?” starring Keira Knightley for $7 million and they secured the U.S. rights to “The Railway Man” for a reported $2 million starring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman. The studio also used the festival to carry seven of their upcoming releases including “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” and “August: Osage County”. [7] [8] [9]

In August, The Weinstein Company agreed to an exclusive streaming deal with Netflix. The deal, set to begin in 2016, will make Netflix the sole U.S. home for all films from The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films during the premium pay-TV window. This deal builds on the already existing deal between the companies that allowed Netflix to stream select films, mostly including foreign films and documentaries. This new deal will end The Weinstein Company’s 2008 seven-year pay TV deal with Showtime. [10]

Recent Film Releases

Courtesy of Indiewire [11]

“Lee Daniels’ The Butler“, released on August 16, is an independent historical drama staring Forest Whitaker as a White House butler who serves over eight presidencies. The film also features Oprah Winfrey as the butler’s wife. [12]

On its opening weekend, the film topped the box office with a weekend gross of over $24 million. It remained atop the weekend box office results for the next two weekends. Through 14 weeks, the film has a domestic gross of over $115 million on just a $30 million budget. The film is currently the studio’s top grossing film of 2013 and fifth all-time. [13]

Originally titled The Butler, the film included director, Lee Daniels‘ name in the title after a failed legal battle with Warner Bros, which claimed the title had been used for a 1916 short. While many thought the name battle may damage the film’s prospects, Harvey Weinstein claims, “We asked people opening weekend what made them see the movie, 40 percent of the audience said the controversy”. [14] [9]

The film is already considered an awards contender, specifically for the performances from Whitaker and Winfrey.

Courtesy of IMP Awards [15]

“Fruitvale Station”, released on July 12, is the believed true story of the moments leading up to and following the tragic death Oscar Grant III at a subway stop on New Year’s Day. The film stars best actor contender Michael B. Jordan. The film was a 2013 Sundance Film Festival winner. [16]

The film was released in seven theaters, the same weekend the Trayvon Martin verdict was read, grossing a $53,898 average per theater. The film was only placed in over 1,000 theaters during its third and fourth weeks. As of October 31st, the film has a domestic total of just over $16 million. [17]

The Weinstein Company combined marketing for this film with a message to end social injustice in the name of Oscar Grant III. On film advertisements on both the studio’s website and actual business cards, audiences were encouraged to use social media to tell their stories of social injustice. [18]

Courtesy of IMP Awards [19]

On September 6, The Weinstein Company released “Salinger”, the story of reclusive author J.D. Salinger, staring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Edward Norton. [20]

The film played in four theaters over its first two weeks, then reached its high of 138 theaters in its third week. The film was not highly received at the Telluride Film Festival, resulting in Harvey Weinstein’s decision to recut the film. As a result, 13 minutes of footage was removed, with eight new minutes added. Weinstein’s updated version was used in the film’s wide release. The film has a worldwide gross of over $650,675. [21] [22]

Upcoming Releases

Courtesy of Dipson Theaters [23]

On November 22, The Weinstein Company is slated to release “Philomena” a film based on the 2009 investigative book by BBC correspondent Martin Sixsmith, stars Judi Dench as a mother in search of her son. The Motion Picture Association of America originally gave the film an R rating, however they changed their ruling to a PG-13 rating after resistance from the studio. [24]

Courtesy of IMP Awards [25]

On November 29, the studio is set to release “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”, starring Idris Elba as Nelson Mandela in his story from childhood to his inauguration as president of South Africa. [26]

The Weinstein Company announced that a special screening of the film will take place at The Kennedy Center on November 20 with former secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and Colin Powell in attendance. This screening is part of an eight-city tour presented by The Weinstein Company and Coca-Cola. [27]

Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter [28]

On Christmas Day, The Weinstein Company is scheduled to release the highly anticipated “August: Osage County”. The John Wells’ film surrounds a family of women who return to their Oklahoma home following a family crisis. The film has generated a lot of buzz due to its star studded cast, highlighted by Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep. [28]

The film received a variety of reviews when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film’s movie poster has received a lot of attention for being strategic as it shows many of the film’s stars. With so many stars, the studio aims to attract the fan bases of these high profile actors. The film expects to compete in the musical or comedy categories at the Golden Globes. [28]

Sources

Sources Accessed November 20, 2013

[1] About The Weinstein Company

[2] Biography.com – Harvey Weinstein

[3] About Harvey Weinstein

[4] NY Daily News – Bob Weinstein Photo

[5] About Bob Weinstein

[6] Box Office Mojo – Studio Market Share

[7] Weinstein Co Acquires Rights at TIFF

[8] Weinstein Co Deal for “The Railway Man”

[9] The Daily Beast – Harvey Weinstein Interview

[10] The Hollywood Reporter – Weinstein Co. Deal with Netflix