On June 15, Spotify's CEO Daniel Ek sent an email to the company's employees announcing that it will reduce its new hiring by 25%.
The email, which was obtained by Bloomberg, did not specify which parts of the business will be most affected by this decision.
Spotify to Slow Hiring
Spotify's reevaluation of its staffing is the latest signal that the tech sector, many of which grew significantly during the peak of the pandemic, is cutting back on staff growth as economic uncertainty looms due to inflation, according to The Verge.
While the tech sector remains strong as the demand for its services are still high, there have been a lot of high-profile hiring slowdowns or staff cuts in the past few months, including layoffs at Coinbase and slowed down recruitment at Facebook.
In May, Twitter stated that it will stop hiring temporarily, while Netflix received backlash in April for its layoffs.
During Spotify's investor presentation, Ek emphasized the company's growth both in subscription numbers and services like podcasting, music, and audiobooks.
However, Paul Vogel, Spotify's chief financial officer, hinted at the presentation that staffing could be affected because of the current economic climate.
According to a filing with the SEC, Spotify had more than 6,600 employees in 2021, which is an 18% increase from 2020, even though the market may force the music streaming company to slow its plans of expansion.
Spotify's Plans
Despite the issues with staffing, the music streaming service continues to upgrade its service by adding new features and teaming up with other firms.
On June 13, Spotify acquired Sonantic, a startup that uses AI to produce realistic voices from text. According to Engadget, this is the company's way to upgrade its text-to-speech feature.
The company did not share its exact plans for the purchase of the startup, but it teased several potential improvements.
Sonantic's tech could provide users context for upcoming recommendations, even when they are not looking at their screen. Spotify believes that the new feature would help reduce barriers to new audio experiences.
The music streaming service wants to help users navigate through their accounts easily without relying on the visual interface.
Spotify did not reveal when it will close the deal with Sonantic. The move came after other social media networks like TikTok and Instagram used text-to-speech for robotic voiceovers.
Spotify Pie
Aside from the text-to-speech feature, Spotify also wants to be more transparent to its users by showing them their listening habits on the app.
Although users see it annually with the Wrapped breakdowns, there is a way to break down the data in the most colorful and fun way.
A UCLA student named Darren Huang has created a genre and artist visualizer called Spotify Pie. According to Mashable, users just need to log into their Spotify account, accept permission to analyze their data, and pie chart will be generated.
The pie will be filled with genres that you listen to on Spotify. It will also show the playlists that you access frequently and artists whose songs you follow.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Sophie Webster
